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Ancient Chinese Account of the Grand 
Canyon, or Course of the Colorado 



(Copyrighted, Brooklyn, 1913) 

By ALEXANDER M'ALLAN 



TEN SUNS IN THE SKY ! 

The ancient Chinese records tell of a "Place of Ten Suns," where "Ten 
Suns rose and shone together" (see Appendix, note 1 ). 

Seven Suns were also seen shining together in the sky! and at night (if in- 
deed we can call it "night") as many as seven moons! (What a haunt for lovers 
and poets!) 

Five Suns were also beheld (see note 2). 

What Liars those Chinese writers are ! 

Very good; but why not denounce all our own 







Figure I. Spectacle of Five Suns. 

Arctic navigators as a pack of Liars? They all tell about more Suns than 
one! A picture of Five (see Figure 1) is furnished by a most eminent explorer 
(note 3). The dictionaries and cyclopedias of our careful publishers call the 
appearancife of two or more auns (or moons J a Parhelion. The number of the 
multiplied "luminaries" never exceeds Ten (note 4) There actually is a "Place 
of Ten Suns." 

Ten Suns say the Ancients. 

Ten Suns say the Moderns. 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



AMERICA SHAPED LIKE A TREE. 

The ancient Mexicans likened North America to a Tree — a stupendous 
Mulberry Tree —"planted in the land known to us today as South America" 
(n. 5). 

The Chinese geographers o/ mythologists teach that at a distance of 30,000 
le (10,000 miles) to the east there is a land 10,000 le (over 3,000, miles in width. 

Now the land referred to must be North America, for, 10,000 miles east 
from southern China brings us to California; and we further find that North 
America, now reached, is 10,000 le, or over 3,000 miles in width, measuring 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

The Chinese accounts further call our eastern realm a Fu-Sang (or Help- 
ful Mulberry) land. 

A Mulberry land (3,000 miles wide) is There, say the Chinese. 

The Mulberry land (3,000 miles wide) is Here, say the Mexicans. 

Like the Mexicans, the Chinese sages declare that there is an enormous 
Tree-the Fu (or helpful) Sang Tree- in the eastern Mulberry land 3,000 
miles wide. 

As just remarked, the Chinese call the enormous Eastern Tree a Sang, 
and the Mexicans call their enormous Tree a Beb (both terms standing for the 
Mulberry, — a fact to which no writer hitherto has directed, or called, attention.) 

Observe (see Figure 2) that at Tehauntepec (a little west of Yucatan) our 
continent narrows down to a width of 100 miles (or 300 Chinese le). 

The Mexicans say that North America is a Tree, and that it has a corres- 
pondingly .enormous Trur.k, — which at Tehauntepec measures 100 miles (or 
300 Chinese le). 

Now the Chinese writers declare that the enormous Mulberry in the region 
east of the Flowery Kingdom has "a Trunk of 300 le" (or 100 miles ) What a 
prodigious dimension! (see note 6.) 

A Mulberry Tree, with a "Trunk of 300 le," is There, say the Chinese. 

A Mulberry Tree, with a Trunk of 300 le, is Here, say the Mexicans. 

Such a stupendous Tree ought to have enormous Branches to match the 
Trunk, and we are not surprised when informed that our monarch of the forest 
goes up— up — up even to the Place of the 10 Suns (in the Arctic zone.) 

The One true sun is, of course, high above the mountain ranges, or 
"Branches" of our Continental Mulberry. 

But the extra Nine are false or delusive and msrs refl ictions of the true 
sun on fog or vapor. The Chinese account, truly enough, states that they bear 
wu, and this term stands for "blackness," "inky," or "dark" (Williams diet. p. 
1058.) 

This identical term wu also stands for black or dark fowls, such as the 
raven, blackbird, and crow; and one Oriental scholar, dwelling indeed in Japan, 
assures us that each of the Nine Suns bears a Crow! We are seriously in- 
formed, that "all bear -literally cause to ride a Crow' (note 7.) 

As well might it be asserted that because wu signifies "black." the Nine 
Wu borne by the Suns must be nine blacks or negroes! The supposition that 



(Cri Ai^rji u.i(\ 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



Nine Crows are meant is absurd and contradicted by the luminaries them- 
selves. 

Strange to say, the "luminaries" emit no radiance! The light that is in 
them is darkness, and they are fitting symbols for commentators — black, white, 
yellow, and green — who have written learnedly and positively on them with- 
out understanding a thing about them. Perhaps it might be well, apart from 
its inconvenience, when writing about any nation, place, or natural object, to 
ascertain the position and name of the continent in which the subject of study 
is situated. Of course we are not so unreasonable as to insist that v»re must 
really comprehend a matter before getting up to explain it [to others, but the 
positions of continents dealt with ought, as a rule, to be clearly ascertained. In 



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Figure 2. Our Continental American Tree. 

the present instance we have faithfully followed the ancient directions and 
groped our way into the presence of the Nine blind suns. Gazing at their 
beaming disks we perceive how the term wu (black or dark) applies to them. 
The color of Crows is there, but not the living birds themselves. It is the 
story of the Three Black Crows advanced another stage on its career of misrep- 
resentation, and magnified Threefold. The Nine Suns have neither swallowed 
nor disgorged Nine Black Crows. But they are certainly open to the charge of 
having feasted too freely on diet no less dark and deceptive. 

They're the color of Crows, say the Ancients. 

They bear Nine Crows, say the Moderns. 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



Thr truth is that the false suns furnish neither heat nor light and really 
consist of dark (wu) vapor. 

The Nine are mere reflections of the low-declined, true sun on "surround- 
ing" frozen haze or mist, in extremely cold weather. When this icy fog seems 
— merely seems, of course, — to touch and surround tKe true sun, the illusions 
known as false suns are apt to appear. They obey some optical code of laws 
or signals understood best perhaps by themselves, and will sometimes disap- 
pear in a moment like a flock of timid "sun birds" (or wild geese — see note 8.) 
Their design apparently is to cheer and escort their illustrious sire in his other, 
wise lonesome trip through a frozen, desolate zone. Some Chinese accounts 
call them "children" — "children of the sun," etc., etc. 

There is a reference to this frozen mist, in Verne's "Fur Country," reading 
as follows: "It is not a mist or fog," he said to his companions, 'it is frost-rime," 
a dense vapor which remains in a state of complete congelation. But whether 
a fog or a frozen mist, this phenomenon was none the less to be regretted for it 
rose a hundred feet at least above the level of the sea, and it was so opaque 
that the colonists could not see each other when only two or three paces 
apart.'" — Danvers" translation, p. 288. 

It should be remarked that the frozen haze which breeds the false suns is 
found only "at the bottom of,"" or "below,"" the mountain ranges or "branches"" 
of our North American Mulberry Tree. The false suns speedily disappear 
from the view of the observer v^ho climbs up out of the thick stratum of frozen 
fog or mist and ascends the nearest "Branch."' 

Such observations are completely in accord with the ancient Chinese 
declaration that Nine of the suns are to be seen "below ' hia) or "at the bot- 
tom of " the Branches, and One "above" the Branches. The suns (see note 9) 
are not said to be "in the Branches." Nine are "below " (hia) and One 
"above" (shang); a remark as true today as it ever was. 

The "Morea" (about fifty miles long', in Greece, was so named because it 
was supposed to resemble the leaf of a morus or mulberry. And similarly 
North America was considered by Mexican and Chinese mythologists to exhibit 
some resemblance to a mulberry, — the Helpful Mulberry (or Fu-Sang). The 
one comparison is just as fanciful or reasonable as the other. Nor can it be 
denied that North America presents some likeness to a Tree, — towering aloft 
like the Tree of the Prophet Diniel, which was seen from the ends of the 
earth. Here Columbia lights up her Tree and welcomes the Neighbors with 
a smile. 

The Chinese note concerning the extra suns and maons, which frequently 
flit about and disappear, like so many sun-birds, connects them with the 
"Branches'' of the Fu (or Fu-Sang) Tree of amazing proportions, which flour- 
ishes in the Region east of the Eastern Sea. The Fu-Sang land, 10,000 le (or 
3,000 miles wide) is said to be 30,000 le ( 10.000 miles) to the east of China: 
and this indeed is the distance from Canton to California. A lesser distance 
(20.000 le. or 7,0v') > miles) lies between Northern China and the American 
Mulberry land due east. It is in America that we are directed to search for the 
surplus assemblage of sun.s And do we not find both them and Fu-Sang? 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



(See note 10.) In what respect is the Chinese account inaccurate thus far? 
We are informed that "in ths water is a large tree having nine suns," etc. The 
Trunk of this prodigious Tree, which is more or less immersed in the Eastern 
Saa, furnishes the surprising dlm^asioa of "333 le." And rising above a Val- 
ley of Hot Springs (readily found in Nicaragua (the Tree proceeds upward and 
rears aloft its exalted Branches in the "Place of the Ten Suns." 

The vast mountain-system, with its tree-like "Trunk" and "Branches," on 
which the many suns and moons are seen to alight or gambol, is called the 
"Sun and Moon shan" («han signifying "mountain or range") in both the 
Chinese text and the translation (see note II.) It is identical with our conti- 
n'intal story Mulberry and constitutes the form of North America. Unfortunate- 
ly our esteemed translator was utterly in the dark concerning the sense of the 
curious statements regarding the manifold suns and moons and even suggested 
that an explanation should be sought for in connection with the Philippine 
Islands. But the Tree, or range of the Sun and Moon, is plainly in North 
America. And here are the flocks of Suns roosting among the Branches. 

NOTICE OF OUR GRAND CANYON. 

According to the translation, a "Great Canyon" is to be seen in the "Great 
Eastern Waste" "Beyond the Eastern Sea." And this Great Canyon is placed 
in connection with the "Sun and Moon shan", — which possesses the Mulberry's 
Branches and exhibit of Suns already glanced at (note 12.) 

We read that a stream flows through this canyon, "producing a charming 
gulf." We are further informed that "the water accumulates and so forms a 
gulf." A river flowing through the "Great Canyon," swells or widens out, 
displays a broadening expanse of water and becomes a Gulf, a "Charming 
Gulf." 

Is not this the beautiful Gulf of California, which is a widening out or 
enlargement of a notable stream, the Colorado? Dscidedly this mighty and 
famous river, whose "water accumulates and so forms a gulf," flow^s through 
a Canyon. Moreover, this Canyon is truly a "Great Canyon." It is the greatest 
and grandest on the planet. It is also found in the "Great Waste to the east of 
the Eastern Sea," which washes the coast of China. It is the Grand Canyon of 
the Colorado, 

The translation informs us (note 13) that this stream which flows into, or 
becomes a gulf has a "delightful spring." The Canyon "has a beautiful moun- 
tain, from which there flows a delightful spring, producing a charming gulf. 
The water accumulates and so forms a gulf" Such is the translation; but no 
Chinese term for "spring" appears in the text. The original states that it is a 
kan «hui which runs through the Canyon, and this identical compound is 
translated "Sweet River" by our author on page 163 of his large and compre- 
hensive work. Kan indeed signifies sweat, sweetness; delightsome, pleasant, 
happy, refreshing; and Shui stands for "water or river" (see Williams diet. pp. 
310,781.) It is therefore evident that a kan shui should be remarkable for 
the sweetness of its water and should start from a "delightful spring" of sweet 
water, in cder to be pure and deserve its reputation. 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



As a geographical fact, the Colorado flows out of the very fount which 
curiously enough, gives birth to the "Sweet Water." This stream becomes the 
Platte or Nebraska river, which joins the Missouri. And from the fount of the 
Svveet Water, exactly on the mountain divide, a head-stream of the Colorado 
bubbles out enlarging into the affluent known as the "Green," the stream 
traverses the Grand Canyon and connects with the Gulf, (note 14.) 

It should have a spring of kan shui or sweet water; and we find that it 
comes sparkling down the mountains from a Sweet Water spring. 

The Sweet Water stream after traversing a Canyon, even a "Great Canyon" 
should co.nnect with, or enlarge into, a gulf, described as "charming." Can the 
Gulf of California be regarded as charming? 

One explorer expresses himself as charmed and delighted v^rith the scenery 
of the gulf. A sample passage in his report reads as follows: "The island and 
mountain peaks, whose outlines, as seen from the gulf, had been somewhat 
dimmed by a light haze, appeared surprisingly near and distinct in the limpid 
medium through which they were now viewed. The whole panorama became 
invested with new attractions, and it v/ould be hard to say whether the dazzling 
radiance of the day or the sparkling clearness of the night was the more 
beautiful and brilliant, (note 15.) 

Truly a charming and bsautiful Galf is here. 

Although the translation does not draw attention to th^ fact, the term em- 
ployed in the Chinese record to describe the course of the stream which passes 
through the Great Canyon, is chu. Now this word is employed to designate 
water which is "shooting over a ledge" (Williama' diet. p. 8^), and its use is 
entirely appropriate in a description of the course of the witer in the channel 
of the C3lorado. The bed of the stream is exceedingly irregular and consists 
indeed of a succession of ledges -producing a aeries of rapids, falls, or catar- 
acts. Were the water to disappear, the exposed bsd of the Colorado, with its 
ascending series of steps, might be likened indeed with truth to a stairway for 
giants or gods. 

The falls caused by ledges (chu) are exceedingly numerous. One navi- 
gator's log contains m^ny such entries as the following: "Still more rapids and 
falls today. In one, the Emma Dean [a boat] is caught in a whirlpool, and set 
spinning about (n. 16). 

One subdivision of the Grand Canyon is known as Cataract Canyon, and 
this section "in its 4! miles, his 73 rapidj and cataracts, and 57 of these are 
crowded into 19 miles, with falls, in places, of 16 to 20 feet" (n. 17.) 

All accounts concur in representing the stream as remarkable for the fury 
and number of its falls. To ascend the Colorado is a sheer impossibility and 
even to descend the stream is an enterprise rarely indeed attempted or 
achieved. Only rafts or life-boats, backed by pluck and luck, stand a chance 
of getting through —in pieces. The mariners all wear life-belts and are just as 
often in the water as they are out of it. Evidently a River of Ledges is here. 
Surely the term Chu (or water shooting over Ledges) appliss with peculiar 
force to the career of this "wildest of rivers" — the Colorado. 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



THE COLORADO -BOTTOMLESS? 

Knowing quite well as we do, that our mighty river possesses a very 
substantial bottom composed of step-like ledges of rock, we learn with surprise 
that it is said to flow through a section described as bottomless! Is not such 
a statement or assertion absurd? But what did the ancient writer mean? What 
could he have meant? 

The translation states that, according to a poem, the Tsang-shan-wu, "in 
the east there is a stream flowing in a bottomless ravine. It is supposed to 
be this Canyon" — the "Great Canyon of the Region beyond the Eastern Sea." 

The Chinese term rendered "Canyon" is Hoh, which stands also for "a bed 
of a torrent, a deep gully or wady; a valley" (see Williams diet. p. 453.) 

Of course, a Ta (or "Great") Hoh ought to be a Great Canyon, or a 
remarkable deep gorge or valley containing the bed of a torrent. 

We have already been informed that a Chu (or river of ledges and falls) is 
in the Ta Hoh, or mighty gorge beyond the Eastern Sea. We also perceive 
that the title Ta Hoh applies properly to the mountain-hemmed course of our 
Colorado (which connects with Middle Park and runs to the Gulf ) 

Somewhere in this immense and peerless Ta Hoh — somewhere among the 
majestic mountains — somewhere along the bed of the Colorado (either inside 
or outside of Middle Park,) the investigator should find a section which is 
bottomless. The ancient account locates it there. Nor are we to look for it 
in any Philippine Island. We are restricted to the bed or banks of the Colorado 
which we have identified as the Chu or plunging river that rushes downward 
to the Gulf. Our leaping stream flows into and out of Grand Lake (within 
Middle Park.) Now this Lake (or en'argement of the bed of the Grand 
Colorado) "has a beach, and far out into the body of the water a sandy bottom" 
and "in the center, covering an area of nearly a mile square the Lake to all 
appearance is bottomless." 

We are further informed that "explorations of the edges of this great sub- 
marine cavern give the most positive evidences that it was once the crater of a 
great volcano" (note 18). 

"The Lake to all appearance is bottomless The deepest soundings that 
could ever be made have failed to reach bo:tom. Hence it is concluded that it 
has no bottom." 

Turn these two words, "no bottom" into Chinese and we get wu ti, — the 
very terms employed in the Chinese account. 

No bottom, say the Ancients. 

No bottom, say the Moderns. 

The old account puts the unfathomable abyss in a Kuh (valley or ravine) 
and it is within a Valley — the Valley of Middle Park —that we actually find it. 
Moreover, this bottomless valley is "supposed" (or reported) to belong to the 
Ta Hoh — a title which would cover both Valley and Canyon. Indeed, Middle 
Park, with its enormous mouritain-walls connects directly with the system of 
the Grand Canyon. Moreover, the one stream flows through both. And here 
it may be remarked that the Chu (or River of Ledges and Falls) is not termi- 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



nated or swallowed up by the Bottomless abyss in Kuh (or Valley of Middle 
Park.) It flows on through the Ta Hoh and ultimately enlarges into a Gulf 
(the Gulf of California). 

The rocky floor of the Kuh (or Valley of Middle Park) evidently consti- 
tutes a support or bottom for an impetuous and important River of Ledges or 
rapids and yet, at the same time, is reported to be Bottomless. This seems 
contradictory. But reaching the precise locality referred to in the old account, 
modern scientists simply echo the declaration of the Ancients, — that this Valley 
or Kuh, traversed by a leaping, furious Chu, is unfathomable. 

Bottomless I say the Ancients. 

Bottomless! say the Moderns. 

it thus appears that a statement seemingly calculated at first sight to drown 
the ancient claim in a flood of derision, turns out on examination to be over- 
whelmingly powerful evidence in support of the validity of the old record. 

In no respect or degree is the ancient testimony contradicted or falsified by 
modern evidence. Take for instance the old assertion that the shan or moun- 
tain-range of the Great Canyon, is "beautiful." Nothing seems more natural 
than to conclude that such a laudatory term is grossly out of place and that the 
Mountain-range, with its Canyon and furious Chu, is a frightful, gloomy, dan- 
gerous, horrible, repulsive, bleak, and ugly mass of shattered and tottering 
heights. And, indeed, there is much truth in this view of the situation. Nev- 
ertheless, modern visitors unite in declaring that Beauty is a marked feature of 
the rocky heights that possess or direct the Colorado; and this is in agreement 
with the ancient account. 

. One traveler says: "The roar of its waters was heard unceasingly but 

its walls and cliffs, its peaks and crags, its amphitheatres and alcoves, tell a 
story of beauty and sublimity" (note 19). 

Another visitor, who was treated most disrespectfully by our Chu, has 
eyes only for its "beauty": "The Canyon grows more and more picturesque and 

beautiful the farther we proceed On many of the long stretches where 

the river can be seen for several miles, the picture is one of charming beaut}'. 
.... As the clouds rose we were treated to scenes rare and beautiful in the 
extreme" (n. 20.) 

Again: "Cataract and Narrow Canyons are wonderful. Glen Canyon is 
beautiful, Marble Canyon is mighty; but it is left for the Grand Canyon, 
v^rhere the river has cut its way down through the sandstones, the marbles, and 
the granites of the Kaibab Mountains, to form those beautiful and awe-inspir- 
ing pictures that are seen from the bottom of the black granite gorge, where 
above us rise great wondrous mountains of bright red sandstone capped with 
cathedral domes and spires of white, with pinnacles and turrets, and towers, in 
such intricate forms and flaming colors that words fail to convey any idea of 
their beauty and sublimity." 

The translation informs us that the mighty gorge is the Canyon of Kiang, 
Shang, or Almighty God. 

And a modern visitor declares that "here Omnipotence stands revealed," 
and that here is "a glorious creation of God." (n. 21) 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



So impressed were the ancients with the beauty and grandeur of thia 
region that they peopled it with the souls of illustrious sages, and declared that 
here was the Canyon of Almighty God. And those who enter it today, come 
reeling back from its portals, — declaring that no mortal can describe its glories, 
and that it is the Grand Canyon of Almighty God ! 

Words fail one in the attempt to describe this glorious creation of God. 
The impression it leaves upon the mind is overpowering. One feels as though 
he had been admitted into the presence of the Genii of the plutonic regions, 
had penetrated to the very heart of the inner world of elemental creations." 

We need not wonder that the old account connects a revered ancestor with 
this glorious and celestial retreat in the Grand Canyon. He is called Shao 
Hao, and is furthur termed a ju, (or sucking child.) 

Shao signifies "little" or "a little," and Hao is formed of the signs for 
"sun" and "heaven." It is therefore evident that the ju or infant at the Canyon 
is (or was) a little sun-child, or child of the sun. 

American rulers called themselves "Children of the Sun," and we should 
be careful not to confound our Arizona Prince with any Asiatic ruler. (The 
Hao or Shao Hao of supposed Chinese origin is represented by some different 
symbols: see Williams' diet. p. 172, columns I and 2.] 

The little Child of the Sun at the Ta-Hoh or Great Canyon should not be 
- -must not be — confounded with any early Chmese sun-worshiper. We are to 
look far to the east of China for both the Canyon and the little Child of the 
Sun referred to in the account before us. 

We are informed that the country connected with the Great Canyon was 
called "Shao Hao's country" (or the land of the Sun-child) on account of the 
little Prince. He entered (chi) it, and this furnished the reason (or chih) for 
its title — Land of the Sun-child. 

The infant (or ju) is distinctly called a ruler (or ti.) Moreover, although 
he was little (shao) or but a ju (suckling); he v/as a supreme king (or chwen 
suh). (Note 22.) 

Chwen is formed by putting together the two words "only" and "head." 
And suh is a Chinese term composed of the two significant words "only" and 
"king" (see Williams' diet. pp. 117, 825, 1043.) 

Evidently the baby ruler (or ju ti) was regarded by his people, in this 
region remarkable for its mountains, as the only or supreme head— the chwen 
suh, as Chinese historians might forcibly phrase it -of the people ruled. 

[Because the infant was king and even the supreme king, it seems reason- 
able to suppose that his father was dead (and his mother alive) at the time 
when he was carried into the Great Canyon and duly suckled there.] We need 
not just here attempt to unravel his history. Enough to show that our Grand 
Canyon is positively and clearly referred to in Chinese literature. We may, 
however, note the fact that the royal infant (see translation) belonged to the 
Kin Tien or Golden Heaven family, and this title must be considered when 
the history of our Arizona Prince comes to be investigated. It should further 
be remarked that the respected translator has erred slightly in his supposition 
that the Chwen Suh (or Supreme Head) was "Shao Hao's descendant." 



10 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



The Chinese terms in the original are: shao hao f not hao's) ju (baby) ti 
(ruler) chwen suh (head king.) It was the little sun child ruler and 
supreme king who was at the Canyon. 

Particular attention should be paid to the fact, that, although regarded as 
a supreme ruler, the Prince is represented as being but a suckling (or ju) 
when in the neighborhood of the Great Canyon. 

Now, the translation states that this baby or supreme lord "of whom no 
further description is given, left there his lute and lyre. It says that his lute 
and lyre are in this canyon." 

MUSIC IN THE GRAND CANYON? 

It is absurd to imagine for a moment that a sucking infant could own, or 
could be really supposed to own, a lute. The Chinese text does not say that 
the musical instrument is "his." And yet, curiously enough, it does declare 
that the baby-prince left or abandoned (k'i) a Lute or Lyre in the Canyon. 

Why should such a matter be mentioned ? Supposing that a fiddle was 
left behind, or a drum, or a rattle, why should the trivial fact be gravely 
recorded ? 

If a Lute was left in the mighty chasm, its remains might be there still. 
But how could an infant be said to leave or abandon a Lute ? Would he not 
try, so well as our memory serves, to first get it into his mouth ? Would not 
his chubby hands, quite stout enough for destructive arts, tear the strings 
apart and feed the music to the nearest cat? Would it be a lute at all when 
ultimately relinquished ? And if the babe derived pleasure from ill-treated 
and squalling strings, why should he leave the lute behind ? As well say that 
the suckling abandoned there a fishing-rod I Would not a milk-bottle be a 
much readier fount of ecstacy than either a lute or a flute? Why, neither one 
nor the other could be heard within the Canyon. 

A Chinese commentator, however, relieves us from the necessity of seek- 
ing for a literal lute between the resounding jaws of the mighty chasm (note 23.) 
He says it is erroneous (ngo) to suppose that the baby emperor (ju ti) grasped 
(ping,) or left behind (chi) or abandoned in the place of midnight darkness 
(huen) any lutes or lyres (kin seh.) In hyperbolical language (wu wu) — 
which is never true when taken literally--a clear limpid river (shuh) would 
be the lute (kin.) 

But how could a clear stream serve as a lute ? 

The running water might produce limpid notes. Thus Moore, in his ode 
on "Harmony," uses the following words ; 

"Listen !- when the night-wind dies 
Down the still current, like a harp it sighs ! 
A liquid chord in every wave that flows." 

Here is a current of water likened to tha string of a harp, and the playing 
of winds compared to music. 

Mrs. Sigourney calls Niagara a "Trump," and we accept the assertion 
(although literally it is quite untrue.) 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



But if the Chinese account placed a Trump in the Ontario chasm there 
would be considerable difficulty in finding it. 

Fortunately, in the case immediately before us, it is a Chinese author who 
tells us that we are to seek for limpid streams rather than for literal lutes or 
lyres. 

The mention of the latter would probably imply that the sounds of some 
stream or streams in the Great Canyon are of a remarkably soft and musical 
character. 

Streams may produce delightful tones. Thus one observer (at Yellowstone) 
tells of the 'mysterious music of the distant falls" "like the tremulous vibration 
of a mighty but remote harp-string." (note 24} 

If falling water under certain peculiar acoustic circumstances can pro- 
duce notes like those struck off from harp-strings, the tones can also be com- 
pared to those of lutes or lyres (for all are stringed instruments.) 

The very volume which places lutes and lyres in the Great Canyon, also 
tells of a forest elsewhere, which is a "Forest of Lutes and Lyres" (note 25.) 

Of course sounds merely resembling those of the stringed instruments, are 
here referred to. A forest is composed of trees rather than musical instruments, 
but it may produce musical tones like those of Lutes and Lyres. 

And similarly the notes arising from the Grand Canyon may be of a lute- 
like character. This is the teaching of the Ancients. We have found the Bot- 
tomless stream and it is certain that visitors should return with accounts of 
melody arising from the Canyon. Future explorers should listen for musical 
notes. They will certainly not be disappointed. 

One visitor says: "The waters waltz their way through the Canyon, mak- 
ing their own rippling, rushing, roaring music.'' We further read of innum- 
erable cascades adding their wild music to the roar of the river." 

What are these innumerable cascades but the strings of the Lute which 
was heard ages ago by en>-aptured ears and which has kept on resounding 
ever since. The concert in the Canyon drowns even the basic roar of the 
river. The music is there. 

"We sit on some overhanging rocks, and enjoy the scene for a time, listen- 
ing to the music of falling waters away up the canyons." (n. 26.) 

It appears that the acoustic properties of the Grand Canyon are calculated 
to produce most notable effects: "Great hollow domes are seen in the eastern 

side of the rock Our words are repeated with startling clearness, but in 

a soft mellow tone, that transforms them into magical music." 

Elsewhere an immense grotto "was doubtless made for an academy of 
music by its storm born architect; so we name it Music Temple." (n. 27.) 

Lutes and Lyres are there, say the Ancients. 

A Temple of Music is there, say the Moderns. 

It will be noticed that the Chinese annotater calls the Great Canyon— the 
Ta Hoh — a place of huen) midnight darkness and declares that it is erron- 
eous to suppose that the Lute played down there (where it could not possibly 
be heard) was an instrument held by a human hand (the hand of a suckling I). 



12 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



Now, although the great gorge is wonderfully beautiful, it must be conceded 
that its"basic part (within which human beings might dwell) is decidedly dark. 
Here "it is necessary to 'lie down upon one's back in order to see the sky,' — as 
I once heard General Crook express it. into much of this deep gorge no ray 
of sunshine ever falls, and it well deserves the name of the "Dark Canyon.' " 
(n. 28). Often in midday, stars are seen shining overhead; and it may well be 
called a place of midnight darkness (huen.) 

In the following passage a modern visitor notices the "dark and frowning" 
walls of the chasm, but still enlarges on their beauty: — "One would think that 
after traveling through six hundred miles of those canyons, one would be satis- 
fied with beauty and grandeur, but in this fact lies the charm. Of the six 
hundred miles no two miles are alike. The picture is ever changing from 
grandeur to beauty, from beauty to sublimity, from the dark and frowning 
greatness of its granite walls, to the aazzling colors of its upper cliffs. And I 
stood in the last few miles of the Grand Canyon spellbound in wonder and 
admiration, as firmly as I was fixed in the first few miles in surprise and astonish- 
ment." (note 29.) 

Nature has done her best to adorn the walls of the mighty gorge. We are 
told of "thousands of rivulets" that "dropped farther and farther down, till 
the whole of the bright scarlet walls seemed hung with a tapesry of silver 
threads, the border fringed with white fleecy clouds which hung to the tops of 
the walls, and through which the points of the upper cliffs shone as scarlet 
tassels." 

Nor was Dame Nature completely satisfied with her tapestry and fringe of 
tassels. Other embroidery was displayed. "As the sun broke through some 
side gorge, the canyon was spanned from side to side, as the clouds shifted 
their position, with rainbow after rainbow, vying to outdo in brilliancy of color 
the walls of the canyon themselves." 

The ancient account declares, that in "the Region beyond the Eastern 
Sea," a Bottomless river traverses a Great Canyon. And this stream, remarka- 
ble for its ledges (chu) or rapids and falls, rushes onward and downward, 
and grows or enlarges into a Gulf. And the Canyon, the River, and the Gulf 
are all reported to be Kan— or Beautiful. 

And visitors today return from all three, declaring that they are Beautiful ! 
Beautiful !l Beautiful!!! 

And some are entranced by strains of muic arising from the mouth of the 
Canyon and declare that it holds an "orchestra." In one place the thousands 
of streamlets, glistening and gleaming like silvery cords, stretch downward from 
the edge of the painted chasm; and the resounding, melodious precipice is ca 1- 
ed "the Cliff of the Harp." (note 30.) What is this but an echo of the ancient 
declaration that the royal Lute in the Canyon was merely a musical stream. 
Similar ideas have occured to poets. Coleridge in his "Ancient Mariner." 
tells of "A noise like of a hidden brook 

In the leafy month of June, 
Which to the sleeping woods all night 
Singeth a quiet tune. " 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 13 



And Moore has heard the notes of harp-strings sounding forth from melo- 
dious streams. What wonder, then, that ancient poets (and the translation 
states that the particular work w^hich makes mention of the "Bottomless Kuh" 
or valley, is a "poem") should have likened a collection of falling streams or 
cascades to the chords of a tuneful Lute and then, to distinguish it from others 
less excellent, have applied to the stringed instrument the name of their Prince. 
Americans today gravely talk of visiting or seeing "St. Luke's Head" (in Cali- 
fornia!) And we possess a mere natural formation which is supposed to 
resemble a nose and is religiously called "St. Anthony's Nose." In truth this 
"nose" is no more a literal nose than the "Lute" in the Canyon is a literal 
stringed instrument made by men. Then we have "Cleopatra's Bath" and 
"Pompey's Pillar." (Next tell us in the interest of chaos and confusion that 
Pompey left here "his" Pillar. 

In the grc.nd caves at Pikes Peak there is an "organ," which is really no 
organ at all. It is a natural formation or production from which charming 
melodies are fetched by skilled musicians. Now if we ourselves can gravely 
call a musical, highly-strung rock an "Organ," may not the Ancients be excused 
for calling a combination of musical streams a Lute? Contemplating the "Cliff 
of the Harp," we can readily understand how old-time visitors found down 
there the tuneful string of a "Lute" and how an imperial Child of the Sun was 
unable to lug along "his" notable musical toy. There it remains and melodious 
notes still come floating up. 

Lutes and Lyres are there, say the Ancients. . 

"An Academy of Music! " say the Moderns. 

The Chinese annotater remarks that the lieh tsze (a class of sages of 
teachers— the literati) are unacquainted (pu chi) with the sheu-hai or Gulf 
situated toward the east (chi tung.) 

The Chinese scholars of the writer's time knew little or nothing of our 
Gulf of California (or Sheu-hai). However, it was known to some; and we 
are now informed that it is ki (a few; nearly about, approximately) yih (to 
guess, to bet; 100,000; an indeterminate number) wan (10,000) le. 

A single wan le should measure about 3,000 miles, and a few (to "guess") 
separate China from the Ta-Hoh which connects with the Bottomless kuh or 
valley ("Ta-Hoh shih wei wu ti chi kuh.) 

Evidently the Great Canyon lies more than one wan le (3,000 miles) to the 
east of China. We find indeed that the number may well be referred to as "a 
few" (ki.) 

Nor can the Gulf be more than about TO, 000 le to the east, seeing that 
this Gulf of California is in "the region beyond the Eastern Sea" along with the 
Fu-Tree which has a trunk of 300 le. The Gulf to the east is connected with 
the mountain system whose Branches exhibit the gorgeous spectacle of Ten 
Suns. In short, the Gulf and Canyon are along with Fu-5ang; and Fu-Sang 
is only 30,000 le to the east of China, and merely 10,000 wide. Accordingly, 
the Gulf is but "a few" wan le to the east of the Flowery Kingdom. 

To look for the Canyon and Tree within the Philippine Islands, contiguous 
to China, is simply impossible. The islands have been pretty well thrashed 



14 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



over lately, and no one has met with the Tree ! It has a "Trunk of 300 le," 
and collectors of curios or strange plants should keep wide awake and see that 
they don't pass it in the dark. And yet with its Ten Moons, how miss it ? 
How fail to notice our glittering, gleaming, glorious candelabrum ? It couldn't 
have fallen or drifted over to the Panama ditch ? It can't possibly be now- 
stuck in any South American Flower-pot ? Catching the Tree seems to be as 
slippery as catching Tartars, and perhaps when the first is found, the others 
won't be very far off. 

The Chinese commentator, of course, never saw either the Gulf or Canyon 
but he quotes from earlier writers who were well acquainted with our "region 
beyond the Eastern Sea;'' and one of these named Chwangtsze, is quoted to 
the effect that in the Ta Hoh or Great Canyon high winds (yuen fung) occur 
(yu) or come unexpectedly upon one. 

Do storms arise suddenly in the neighborhood of the mighty chasm? 

One modern explorer says: "I go up to explore the alcove. While away a 
whirlwind comes scattering the camp fire among the dead willovk's and cedar 
spray and soon there is a conflagration, the men rushing for the boats, leaving 
all they cannot readily seize at the moment, and even then they have their 
clothing burned and hair singed." (note 31.) 

Storms occur in all parts of the world. Is there anything peculiar about 
the tempests which are said to suddenly arise in the Great Canyon? 

One visitor says: "Storms w^ere not infrequent and these occurring where 
the canyon walls were a mile high and close together produced an effect that 
was almost supernatural in its awfulness. The deep thunder echoed sharply 
between the cliffs, producing a roaring sound that was almost deafening." 
(note 32 ) 

It should be remembered that the vast caverns here multiply the bellow, 
ings of thunder and also help to confine and intensify the raging and imprison- 
ed whirlwinds. 

One eye or ear witness tells of a storm both seen and heard within the 
Canyon and adds: "I have seen the lightning play and heard the thunder roll 
among the summit peaks of the Rocky Mountains, as I have stood on some 
rocky point far above the clouds, but nowhere has the awful grandeur 
equalled that night in the lonesome depths of what was to us death's canyon. 

Again all vi'as shut in by darkness thicker than that of Egypt. The 

stillness was only broken by the roar of the river as it rushed along beneath me. 
Suddenly as if the mighty cliffs were rolling down against each other, there was 
peal after peal of thunder striking against the marble cliffs below, and mingling 
with their echoes, bounding from cliff to cliff. Thunder with echo, echo with 
thunder, crossed and recrossed from wall to wall of the canyon," etc. (note 33.) 

Surely sudden and dreadful storms rage here. The loudest in North 
America, says an expert. 

Observe that the visitor just quoted notices the "roar of the river" in con- 
nection with the fury of the tempest. 

Now, the ancient visitor does the same. After directing attention to the 
sudden high winds, he says that a decidedly curious sight or spectacle ^king 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



shun) is the keang (a large main stream which receives tributaries) spreading 
abroad (fu) the noise of flowing water (tsung) in the Ta-Hoh or Great 
Canyon. 

The noise of the great river or Keang is thus noticed by the ancient 
visitor, who also declares that the Ta-Hoh or Great Canyon constitutes a 
decidedly fine or curious sight. 

And such in truth it actually is. "Imagine a chasm that at times is less 
than a quarter of a mile wide and more than a mile deep, the bed of which is 

a tossing, roaring, madly impetuous flood What an imposing spectacle; 

what a sublime vision of mightiness !" (n. 34). 

A great sight ! say the Ancients. 

A Wonder of the World ! say the Moderns. 

The roar of the river has never ceased since the ancient scribe, or his 
informant, passed that way. A modern visitor says : "The threatening roar of 
the water is loud and constant." 

Again, "The roar of its waters was heard unceasingly from the hour we 
entered it until the time we landed here. No quiet in all that time." (n. 35). 

One navigator tells of a "bore" in connection with the resounding stream, 
"In the stillness of the night, the roaring of the huge mass could be heard 

reverberating among the windings of the river This singular phenomenon 

of the 'bore,' as it is called, is met with but at few places in the world In 

the course of four or five hours the river falls about thirty feet" (n. 36.) 

Another explorer pauses at one spot in his amphibious career to note that 
"high water mark" can be seen "fifty, sixty, or a hundred feet above its present 
stage;" and "w^hen a storm bursts over the canyon, a side gulch is dangerous, 
for a sudden flood may come and the inpouring waters will raise the river, so 
as to hide the rocks before your eyes" (n. 37). 

Another navigator, who never was without a life-belt, — which he found of 
vital use when righting his too often overturned ark, — tells with ameizement of 
"the waves, torrents, and cataracts of this wildest of rivers.'' 

A ceaseless basic roar is there, — deadened at times by floods of music, yet 
nevertheless eternally there. 

The sea connected with the Great Canyon is elsewhere called a Puh hai 
(the latter term signifying "sea.") 

A Puh hai is said to be a "Gulf," and we find a Gulf— the Gulf of Califor- 
nia — at the mouth of the Colorado. 

It should, however, be observed that the term Puh by itself stands for "an 
arm of the sea." A Puh hai is a Gulf which forms "an arm of the sea." The 
Gulf or sea should be shaped like an arm — an arm of the ocean (see Williams' 
diet. p. 718.) 

Now, a glance at the map shows that in a very peculiar sense the Gulf of 
California is a hai or "sea" which meets the requirements of being shaped 
like an arm. It is a sea and a gulf and at the same time "an arm"' of the 
ocean. Truly it is a Puh hai. 

A great many "gulfs" are quite unlike "arms," being too broad to admit 



16 ANCIENT CHJNESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



of 8uch a comparison. But our Gulf of California is comparatively narrow and 
is truly an "arm" of the sea. And notice how the water of the river — our 
Colorado — "accumulates and so forms a gulf.'' Such are the words of the 
existing translation and they apply completely to the American situation. Here 
we find the water of the Colorado accumulating or widening out until it 
becomes a great body of water— a Gulf. Indeed this development or process 
of expansion is so gradual that it is impossible for navigators to tell where the 
river ends or the gulf begins. 

In the Chinese comment immediately before us, however, the hai or sea to 
the Canyon's river mouth is called a Sheu. 

Now this term signifies "to rinse the mouth, to scour; to wash out a thing; 
to purify." (Williams, p. 757.) 

The word Sheu is written by combining the characters for "water" and 
"to suck in." 

It is evident that our Gulf of California is "an arm of the sea" and no less a 
Sheu. A "mouth" it undoubtedly has, and this mouth is being ceaselessly 
"washed," "scoured," and "purified." Even a dentist would be satisfied I 
The immense stream rushes out, and tides from the Pacific rush in. Moreover 
the Colorado "sucks in" the tidal wave known as the Bore. Surely we have 
here the E.astern Gulf sea which is both a Puh and a Sheu. 

The water of the noisy, restless, purifying stream within the Ta-Hoh was 
it is said, — 

1. Yu (which means "used or employed.") 

2. Wuh (to water or irrigate; to soften with water; to enrich,) 

3. Tsiao (scorched, burned, singed, dried up.; 

4. Chi (referring to or denoting.) 

5. Tsze (here or this.) 

Evidently the water of the Colorado was used to irrigate some ground or 
vegetation which was dried up or scorched. 

Such a remark implies a high temperature (during the period of growth) 
between the walls of the chasm, and also leads us to look for some soil — some 
scorched or dried up soil (sadly in need of irrigation) — between the jaws of the 
Canyon. Is there parched or desert soil on the banks of the Colorado? 

Here is the answer: "The region through which the chafing waters of the 
Colorado run is forbidding in the extreme, a vast Sahara of waste and in- 
utility; a desert too dreary for either vegetable or animal life; a land that is 

haunted with wind-storm, on which ride the furies of desolation 

The earth is parched to sterility It is like the moon, a parched 

district, save for the single stream which, instead of supplying sustenance, is 
eating its vitals." (note 38.) 

Another traveler visited Fort \ uma, on the Colorado, and says: "The ride 

to the fort was through a flat and desolate looking cDun'ry It was a 

dreary eight hours ride.'' Other remarks are made concerning "the barren- 
ness of the surrounding region and" "the intense heat of its summer 
climate." (note 39.) 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



In some spots, however, water produces magical effects. In the Mojave 
valley, for instance, "the annual overflow of the river enables the Mojaves, "to 
raise with little labor, an abundant supply of provisions for the year Dur- 
ing one season, a few years since, the Colorado did not overflow its banks; there 
were consequently no crops and great numbers of the Mojaves perished from 
starvation." (note 40.) 

Curiously enough, although rain fell furiously within the Canyon, it was 
observed by a traveler that "such rain-storms were invariably confined to the 
immediate vicinity of the Canyon, the territory lying two or three miles east or 
west continuing parched with hardly a cloud above it." And the explorer 
wonders how some ancient inhabitants, whose buildings are now in ruins," 
managed to exist, situated as they were in a desolate country, where there was 
great scarcity of both vegetable and animal life." 

The ancient Chinese account connects a baby king, a supreme ruler, with 
the Great Canyon and now states that water was used within the gorge to 
irrigate the soil, which is represented as being dried up or schorched. Is 
the Canyon remarkable for its heat? Surely it ought to be cool down there? 

One visitor says: "That Canyon was the sultriest place I have ever struck, 
and my experience includes some of the hottest sections this side of the 
equator. 

The oppressive heat in the chasm was felt at a "point fifty times as deep 
as the great chasm at Niagara." (note 41.) 

"But despite the terrible heat, despite the discomfort of the situation, I was 
compelled to wonder and admire. For," — 

The Ta-Hoh should constitute a magnificent sight, but it is also said to 
contain some scorched or dried up soil. Is such to be seen? 

An explorer reached the Colorado at a point where it is 266 yards wide, 
and adds that the "soil" "bore nothing but dry weeds and bushes and the 
whole scene presented the most perfect picture of desolation 1 have ever 
beheld, as if some sirocco had passed over the land, withering and scorch- 
ing everything." (note 42) 

Withered and scorched! say the Ancients. 

Withered and scorchedl say the Moderns. 

In one favored spot, "to the limit of vision, the tortuous course of the river 
(the Colorado) could be traced through a belt of alluvial land varying from 
one to six miles in width, and garnished with inviting meadows, with broad 
groves of willow and mezquite and promising fields of grain." The visitor 
remarks that the valley appears most attractive in the spring -"at this season of 
the year before the burning heat has withered the freshness and beauty of 
the early vegetation." (note 43.) 

We are informed that the valley south of the Bend of the Colorado near 
the "Needles," there is in the spring » "most brilliant array" of flowers; but, 
"after the ephemeral influence of the fevy spring showers has passed, the 
annual plants are soon burned up by the sun's heat and perfect sterility pre- 
vails throughout the remainder of the season." (note 44.) 

It is sufficiently apparent that the soil when properly watered can produce 



18 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



abundant vegetation and sufficient nourishment for, of course, limited numbers 
of human beings. Deprived of water, the soil is unable to sustain desirable 
plants, and presents a sterile aspect. Surveying its present condition or appear- 
ance of barrenness, a modern visitor v^^onders how the ancient inhabitants con- 
trived to exist, or find food, within the withered, unfruitful chasm. But one of 
the ancients, Mr. Chwang Tsze, writing about this very Ta-Hoh or Great 
Chasm, says that they used water to irrigate the otherwise scorched or dried up 
soil. Then, if such a somewhat belated answer is true, the question arises, 
where are the proofs ? 

A chief of the Ethnological Bureau very properly furnishes the answer. 
Standing in the abyss of the Ta-Hoh, on the bank of the roaring river, he 
beholds some ancient buildings and perceives how their vanished occupants 
formerly contrived to subsist. He says: "We can see where the ancient people 
■who lived here — a race more highly civilized thau the present — had made a 
garden, and used a great spring" [or feeder of the Colorado], "that comes out 
of the rocks for irrigation," etc. (n. 45.) 

We irrigated the soil, say the Ancients. 

They irrigated the soil, say the Moderns. 

Next comes the statement of some trusted early sage or scholar who was 
certainly acquainted with our Ta-Hoh (containing the ruin and irrigated soil 
just noticed.) It is an observer or scribe named Tu-tsan, who says: — 

10. Seay (to paint, to draw, to sketch.) 

1 1. yih (to spread abroad, to diffuse.) 

12. tung (a gorge, ravine, canyon, a cave, a grotto.) 

13. hueh ("a hole in the earth or side of a hill, — they are used for dwell- 
ings;" a den, a grotto, a cavern.) 

Something called seay is here said to be spread abroad, or diffused over 
rocky walls or caves. Williams (p. 7%) says that seay (or sie as it is also 
spelled) stands for a sketch or design, and adds that it means to draw, to com- 
pose, to write. Morrison, in his dictionary, says that seay signifies "to paint," 
etc. 

Of course there is no use looking for anything so absurd as pictured or 
painted rocky walls or caves; and we accordingly feel disappointed when the 
ancient text seems to notice such. The pictures or paint should be "spread 
abroad" freely or lavishly in the vicinity of caverns, and we know positively 
that no "paint" or pigment of human composition can be seen on the canyon 
walls. No artificial pictures are there, and we are compelled to admit that the 
ancient account here stands falsified. 

We have, however, found the cares. Music Temple, for instance meas- 
ures two hundred feet from floor to roof, and is "a vast chamber carved out of 
the rock." There are caverns in all directions. And the noisy, roaring river is 
certainly there as well. One explorer says: "Imagine a chasm that at times is 
less than a quarter of a mile wide and more than a mile deep, the bed of 
which is a tossing, roaring, madly impetuous flood, winding its way in a sinuous 
course along walls that are painted with all the pigments known to nature. 
What an imposing spectacle!" (n. 46.) 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



Of course we must object that the "walls" are really not walls and that the 
"paint'" so lavishly spread upon them is not paint at all. The ancient assertion 
is delusive, but equally so is the modern. Just compare them. 

The Virgin River enters the Colorado, and at the place of junction are the 
"resplendently painted temples and towers of the Virgin. Here the elopes, 
the serpentine ledges, and the bosses of projecting rock, interlarded with scanty 
soil, display all the colors of the rainbow, and in the distance may be likened 
to the painter's pallete. The bolder tints are of maroon, purple, chocolate, 
magenta, and lavendar, with broad bands of white laid in horizontal belts. 
(n. 47.) 

Is this so-called "paint" lavishly "spread abroad '? 

Certainly; one section of the mighty and wondrous gorge is known as "the 
painted canyon." 

Of course the chasm is not really "painted" by artists or human agents, 
and we need not look for painted cliffs anywhere. Nevertheless modern ob- 
servers echo the language of the ancients, and we are told today of "the 
painting of the rocks" and of "deep, painted alcoves" and "painted 
grottos" (n. 48.) 

The term yih (see Williams' diet. pp. 781, 1092) is composed of the char- 
acters for "fluid" ana "vessel," and signifies "A vessel full to the brim; ready to 
overflow, to run over; abundant; to spread abroad, to diffuse." As seay, the 
word which precedes yih in our Chinese note, signifies "to paint," we perceive 
how the additional term yih teaches that the paint made use of has been 
applied to extensive surfaces, so that it presents the appearance of having 
"overflowed" or "run over" the rocky walls and caverns dealt with. 

Of course neither writing nor literal pictures could overflow or drench — 
and adhere to — walls or cliffs. But seay yih might cover the motion of apply- 
ing paint in a most lavish, copious, overflowing manner. Here are cliffs so 
"rich with parti-coloring as to justify the most extravagant language in describ- 
ing them." 

It looks as though the gnomes on the job, in the Canyon, just emptied their 
paint-pots down dizzy cliffs and then went back for more. And such extrava- 
gance is in harmony with the symbols which stand for painting and vessels and 
spreading abroad or overflowing ! Mineral paints were freely used and some- 
times apparently with considerab'e c; r^ and skill. Thus we read of a red 
sandstone cliff "unbroken by cracks or crevices or ledges" exhibiting "exten- 
sive flat surfaces beautifully stained by iron, till one could imagine all manner 
of tapestry effects." 

Here are painted imitations of tapestry. 

It should further be remembered that there are actual picture writings 
spread abroad on extensive painted or stained surfaces. The author just 
quoted beheld ancient dwellings which "exhibited considerable skill on the part 
of the builders, the corners being plumb and square. And just here "there 
were also numerous picture writings." (note 49.) 

An amazed visitor exclaims: "Grand, glorious, sublime, are the Pictorial 
cliffs of Vermillion hue!" 



20 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



"Pictorial" answers to seay (the 10th character in our list.) 
Pictured and paintedl say the Ancients. 
Pictured and painted! say the Moderns. 

We have seen that our Gulf (of California) has been called a Puh-hai, or 
"arm of the sea." 

Professor Hoith, the celebrated student of Chinese, in his work On 
"Chinese History'* (p. 49, footnote) says that a puh hai is "an estuary." 

Webster says that an "estuary" is "an arm of the sea; a firth; a narrow 
passage, or the mouth of a river or lake, where the tide meets the current, or 
flows and ebbs." 

Plainly our Gulf of California is a Puh hai or Estuary. 

It may further be remarked that Puh is written in Chinese by putting 
together two characters, one standing for "water," and the other signifying 
"Suddenly; hastily; flurried, disconcerted, as when caught doing wrong; to 
change color, confused" (Williams' diet. p. 718.) 

It is superfluous to say that our Gulf or Estuary is a very "confused" or 
"flurried" body of water. It is truly a Puh-hai. 

Moreover, it "changes color." As though "caught doing wrong," it 
changes color and blushes at times a rosy red. This is the hue of multidunious 
veins: "A thousand streams rolling down the cliffs on every side, carry with 
them red sand; and these all unite in the canyon below, in one great stream of 
red mud ' (n. 50. ) But sometimes the color below Yuma is yellow or black 
(n. 51.) 

The name "Colorado" is a Spanish term conveying the idea of redness, 
and undoubtedly this hue predominates throughout the course of the boisterous 
stream; but other colors due to the dye or wash of variously painted cliffs, are 
also met with. Moreover a section may exhibit one color to-day and something 
different to-morrow. And so it is with the gulf, which receives the Colorado, 
and on which floating patches of color are frequently seen. Truly our Gulf or 
Estuary is remarkable for both its coloring, blue, red, etc., and its changes of 
color. In all respects it is plainly a Puh-hai. 

Our Gulf or Estuary is also called a yuen. Farther on (see Chinese ver- 
sion) we read that the Canyon river produces or grows into (shang) a beauti' 
ful (kan) yuen. 

This term yuen stands for a "gulf, an abyss; an eddy, a whirlpool or place 
where the back water seems to stop." 

A whirling, violent, or impetuous body of water is evidently referred to. 
Fernando Alarchon, in 1540. found the Colorado "a very mighty river, which 
ran with so great a fury of stream that we could hardly sail against it. 

One voyager tells how his ark, the "Emma" was "caught in a whirlpool, 
and set spinning about. " Here is a yuen. 

Again, "The men in the boats above see our trouble but they are caught 
in whirlpools, and are spinning about in eddies." 

What have we here but Yuen — multiplied whirlpools? 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 21 



Through "Whirlpool Canyon" and all the way to the Gulf, the waters dance 
around and about. We read of "dancing eddies or whirlpools." There are 
more than 600 rapids and falls in the Colorado (n. 52) 

The waters waltz their way and even furnish their own rippling, rushing, 
roaring music." And we are in addition told of "innumerable cascades adding 
their wild music" (n. 53). 

Surely the entire inlet traversed by the bore or reached by ocean tides is 
in precisely the condition of commotion which may well be designated by the 
term yuen. 



We are informed that the kan (or beautiful) yuen approaches (tsih) 
with vapor (hi hwo) and bathes (yuh) the sun's place (ji chi su). 

It is evident that the mighty stream which traverses the Great Canyon in 
the region beyond the Eastern Sea, should flow from a Bottomless valley to a 
Gulf, and reach to the Sun's Place. And we find that the current of the Colo- 
rado extends to the Tropical line of Cancer, which crosses and marks the 
mouth of the Gulf of California. 



Vapor or fog is noticed in connection with the beautiful (even if restless cr 
reeling) Yuen. 

Are fogs a noticeable feature along the coast of California ? If so, they 
might hide the entrance or mouth of the Gulf. 

One visitor says: "Westward toward the setting sun and the sea," was a 
"filmy fog creeping landward, swallowing one by one the distant hills." 

Again, we read of "hilltops that thrust their heads through the slowly van- 
ishing vapor." 

Here "you may bask in the sunshine of gardens of almost tropic luxuriance 
or shudder in fogs that shroud the coast" (n. 54.) 

We need not wonder that such vapors should appear within the confines 
of the charming Gulf of California and at times veil its shores. A recent visi- 
tor says: "The island and mountain peaks, whose outlines are seen from the 
Gulf, had been somewhat dimmed by a light haze, appeared surprisingly 
near and distinct in the limpid medium through which they were now viewed. 
The whole panorama became invested with new attractions, and it would be 
hard to say whether the dazzling radiance of the day or the sparkling clearness 
of the night was the more beautiful and brilliant" (n. 55). 

Hazy and Beautiful, say the Ancients. 

Hazy and Beautiful, say the Moderns. 

The haze is not dense enough to blind our eyes to the manifest fact that 
those people of old who were acquainted with the position of our Gulf of Cali- 
fornia, must also have been acquainted with Mexico and its inhabitants. 

Tropical America was considered by its people to be particularly under 
the influence of the Sun. Uxmal was in "the Land of the Sun" (n. 56), and the 
Mexicans called themselves "Children of the Sun." 



22 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



CAVE DWELLINGS IN THE GRAND CANYON. 

It will be noticed that the ITth term in our list is hueh, which stands for 
cave habitation. Are such to be seen in our Canyon? 

Numerous tung (see 12th term,) in the shape of caves or holes are un- 
doubtedly there, but in addition the old account notices hueh. Have such been 
found? 

One explorer says: "Even more remarkable than the stu/aendous walls 
which confine the Colorado river, are the ruined cave habitations which are to 
be seen along the lofty and inaccessible ledges, in which a vanished race long 

years ago evidently sought refuge from their enemies They were reached 

by very narrow, precipitous, and devious paths, and being extremely difficult to 
attain by the occupants themselves, presented an impregnable front to invaders" 
(n. 57.) 

Explorers decending into the ta-hoh come forth to-day with accounts of 
gardens and irrigating streams, pictured cliffs, and cave dwellings, — in com- 
plete ag'eement with the ancient record. 

Following the term hueh we find a 14th, called han, which stands for dry, 
heated air; to dry; parched as by drought; crisp. 

Is there han, or dry heated air down in the Canyon? 

One visitor entered the Grand Canyon "in the morning while darkness yet 
covered the scene, but even then it was oppressively hot, and as the sun got 
higher I felt as though I had been thrust into a dutch oven and the mouth 

stopped up But, despite the terrible heat .... I was compelled to wonder 

and admire .... the gorgeous cliffs and rock walls showing all those varied 
colorings," etc. (n. 58). 

It was the "terrible heat" which compelled the Ancients to resort to irriga- 
tion in order to raise some food for themselves and little ones. Destitute of 
water, the soil is scorched and barren. 

It is said that "there are about 700 square miles of arable land between the 
mouth of the Gila and the 35th parallel of N. latitude," along the Colorado. 
And "in the valley" of this stream, where it is joinea by the Gila, "are traces 
of ancient irrigating canals, which show that it has once been cultivated." And 
along the connected Gila are irrigating works of remarkable construction and 
undoubted antiquity —antedating the arrival of the Spaniards by centuries. 

Where the soil is actual y irrigated or cultivated the response of nature is 
most gratifying and encouraging. We learn with regard to the Colorado valley, 
that "portions are cultivated by the numerous tribes of Indians who live along 
its banks, affording them an abundance of wheat, maize, beans, melons, 
squashes," etc. (n. 59). 

Such ground would be well worthy of attention; but the attitude of "the 
numerous tribes of Indians" along the Colorado might interfere with the plans 
of newcomers and even compel the latter to live in caves or on ledges easily 
defended. And it is certain that soil insufficiently watered presents a distress- 
ingly sterile aspect in the neighborhood of the Colorado. 

One traveler, already quoted, says with regard to a wide section, that "the 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 23 



whole scene presented the most perfect picture of desolation I have ever be- 
held, as if some Sirocco had passed over the land, withering and scorching 
everything to crispness'' (n. 60.) 

Notice this word "crispness" used by our author. Turned into Chinese it 
becomes han (crisp)- the very term applied in the ancient record to the con- 
dition of the soil unwatered within the Canyon. It is curious how the old and 
new visitors agree in their descriptions of the interior of the mighty gorge, 
where vegetation is withered or dead. 

Scorched and Crisp ! say the Ancients. 

Scorched and Crisp! say the Moderns, 

The Canyon should be hot, and one of our own visitors says : "The sun 
shone directly up the Canyon, and the glare reflected from the walls made 
the heat intolerable (n. 61.) 

The word han has, unfortunately enough, a perfect right to appear in the 
old record. Following it we find additional terms ; 

15. A compound character consisting of the signs for "Sun" (Jih) and 
"People" (Min.) 

16. lung ("used for nagas or snake gods;" "a dragon," 'imperial." "It is 
often used for a man.") 

17. chuh ("the illumination of torches; a candle; a light; to give or shed 
light upon, to illumine") 

The statement seems to teach that the Sun People- the men — were using 
torches to illumine the depth of the hot Canyon. 

We have already been informed that a ju or suckling, who was yet a 
supreme King (like perhaps the last Chinese Emperor of the Manchu dynasty, 
in 1912 A. D.) and a Child of the Sun, was down in the abyss, so we are pre- 
pared to hear that his subjects— some Sun people — were down there too. 

Of course, for the greater part of the twenty-four hours, the darkness, 
particularly in the cave dwellings should be most intense. One visitor, quoted 
already, tells of "darkness thicker than that of Egypt." Such gloom should be 
particularly and painfully felt by "Sun People," and we are not surprised to 
find that they mtde use of torches or artifical lights. Singularly enough, the 
chasm, as though remorsefully conscious of the blackness of its character, pro- 
duces no end of dried-up vegetable stems or stalks fit to be ignited and used 
as firebrands. These it places convenient to your hand, as though to invite 
inspection. 

Indians today are in the habit of using such torches. We are informed 
that "the custom still prevails among them of carrying a firebrand," which was 
noticed by Spanish explorers in the 1 6th Century, "and induced those discov- 
erers to give to the river the name of Rio del Tizon" (n. 62). 

It will be noticed that the ancient Chinese account connects lights, or "an 
illumination of Torches'" 'chuh\ with the very stream which the Spaniards of 
a later age, and of their own accord christened the Rio del Tizon. 

A Torch-lighted stream, say the Chinese. 

A Torch-lighted stream, say the Spaniards. 



24 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



The author or explorer last quoted says with reference to Indians dwelling 
on the banks of the Colorado, that "the custom still prevails among them of 
carrying a firebrand in the hand in cold weather," which was noticed by the 
Spaniards. 

Of course the flaming brands may well be used in winter to warm those 
who hold them, but the Ancients who inhabited the cave or cliff houses 
(which they built and which are now more or less in ruin, according to expos- 
ure or original inherent strength) might have used the chuh or torches as 
lights. These torches are mentioned in connection with excessive heat, and 
it would be absurd to suppose that the Sun People of old desired a still higher 
temperature. But mention is made of cave dwellings, and such are actually 
there; and we can readily understand why the ancient dwellers in the cave 
houses should have frequently used the ready-to-hand torches when climbing 
tJ their dark and break-neck abodes. 

Even today the chuh or torches are used as lights. The withered 
stalks or stems, so abundant in the Canyon, are a melancholy illustration of the 
scorching power of the sun within the chasm. We have not forgotten the fact 
that the Chinese term han is used in the ancient text and that it stands for the 
"crispness" of scorched or dried up plants. An actul visit to the Ta-Hoh or 
Great Canyon referred to, shows that it is this han — or withered, scorched and 
crisp — vegetation which provides no end of torches (chuh) for dwellers in the 
vicinity. One stumbling visitor uses the following language: "We struck for 
it . . . through the thick night, the guide occasionally lighting a torch of grass" 
(n. 63). Unable to directly or steadily illumine the angles or recesses of the 
Canyon, the bright and clear-headed sun does the next best thing and raises a 
bounteous harvest of firebrands. Nature here concentrates her attention on the 
task of serving the necks (rather than the bellies) of her children, and presents 
them with a crop of seasoned and brilliant torches. Certain it is that most 
efficient firebrands are raised here in profusion and constitute such a unique 
feature of the stream that in order to distinguish it from others in the region, 
the Spaniards called our river the Rio del Tizon. Torches have lighted the 
Canyon in the past and thsy now throw light on the ancient record. 

Mentioned in connection with withered vegetation and intense heat, the 
natural inference is that the torches were used to light the steps of dwellers in 
the Canyon. Of course they might in v^rinter have been used, like other vege- 
table produce, as fuel, but the old record now before us does actually connect 
the chuh or torches with a high scorching temperature; and our impression or 
deduction is that they were used as lights amid the blackness of the chasm. 

And the Torches (chuh' are used as lights still. One explorer says: "We 
fear that we shall have to stay here clinging to the rocks until daylight. Our 
little Indian gathers a few dry stems, ties them in a bundle, lights one end, and 
holds it up. The others do the same, and with these Torches we find a 
way out of trouble." 

Observe that these torches (or chuh as the Chinese would call them) 
were not ignited to warm the explorers. They were held aloft to find or light 
the way among perilous cliffs. Without their aid it v^ould have been madness 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 25 



for the explorers to move. Practically they were as men born blind, but the 
Indian guide, with knowledge derived from the depths of antiquity, obtains 
the necessary torches and light at his elbow. With one withered and hot stem 
he ties together a number, lights them and then finds the way out of trouble 
for both himself and his bewildered party. What have we here but a duplica- 
tion of the "illumination of torches" referred to in the ancient record ? 

17. chuh (the illumination of torches; a candle; a torch.) 

18. yuen ("to lead or take by the hand, to cling to; to pull up higher, to 
drag out; to put forward; to relieve, to rescue") 

19. yiu (have, has; to get.) 

20. Ta (Great.) 

21. Hoh (Canyon.) . Q 

22. hao (a mark, classed, a signal.) 

23. wei (said or declared; has; in the place of.) 

24. wu (no; without; destitute of.) 

25. te (bottom.) 

It appears that within the bottomless Ta-hoh or Great Canyon (see words 
19 to 25) there is an illumination of torches (chuh) and a pulling up higher, or 
a dragging about and clinging to (yuen). 

Climbing is here referred to. The Sun people seem to have found loco- 
motion difficult and hazardous within the chasm. 

The modern explorer who reached the irrigated garden plots and houses 
of the ancient occupants, was himself compelled to resort to much climbing. 
In one place he says: "I find I can get up no farther, and cannot step back, for 
I dare not let go with my hands, and cannot reach foot-hold below without. I 

call to Bradley for help The moment is critical. Standing on my toes my 

muscles begin to tremble I hug close to the rock, let go with my hand, 

seize the dangling legs, and with his assistance, I am enabled to gain the top" 
(n.64.) 

It will be seen by the intelligent reader that the forgoing performance is 
covered by the term yuen (No. 18) used in the ancient record. There was a 
rescue by Bradley, and the desperate adventurer, a chief of the Ethnological 
Bureau, was "pulled up higher,'' even to "the top" of the cliff. All this con- 
stitutes yuen; and without intending it, our modern climber — calling to Bradley 
for help — is a most eloquent and lucid commentator on the ancient statement 
in the Chinese text. 

But this climbing should be accomplished in connection with chuh (No. 
I7^the illumination of torches). Is it true that there is climbing by torchlight 
(not moonlight, gentle reader) within the chasm ? 

Light is thrown on the ancient text by a statement already in part quoted: 
"We fear that we shall have to stay here clinging to the rocks until daylight. 
Our little Indian gathers a few dry stems, ties them in a bundle, lights one end, 
and holds it up. The others do the same, and with these torches we find a 
■way out of trouble. Helping each other, holding torches for each other, one 
clinging to another's hand until we get footing, then supporting the other on 



26 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



his shoulders, so we make our passage into the depths of the canyon. And 
now Captain Bishop has kindled a huge fire of driftwood, on the bank of the 
river. This and the fires in the gulch opposite, and our own flaming torches, 
light up little patches, that make more manifest the awful darkness below. 
Still, on we go, for an hour or two, and at last we see Captain Bishop coming 
up the gulch, with a huge torch-light on his shoulders. He looks like a fiend 
waving brands and lighting the fires of hell, and the men in the opposite gulch 
are imps lighting delusive fires in inaccessible crevices, over yawning chasms. 
.... At last we meet Captain Bishop with his flaming torch" (n. 65). And so 
the brilliant description continues. 

What is all this but the chuh yuen of the ancient record ? Here surely is 
"an illumination of torches." 

Torches and Climbmg, say the Ancients. 

Torches and Climbing, say the Moderns. 







We can readily understand why the ancient occupants of the stone houses 
in the Grand Canyon, should have used the torches so liberally and conven- 
iently supplied by nature throughout the region where their light is too often 
sadly or desperately needed. We have been informed by a modern visitor 
that ruined cave habitations are to be seen along "lofty and inaccessible ledges." 
And these dwellings "were reached by very narrow, precipitous, and devious 
paths, and being extremely difficult to attain by the occupants themselves, pre- 
sented an impregnable front to invaders." 

Surely here torches would often come in handy. 

Dr. Fewkes believes that the ancient occupants of the cliff or cave houses 
chose hazardous sites in order to be out of the reach of enemies. He says: 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 27 



"The pressure of outside tribes, or what may be called human environment, 
probably had much to do originally with the choice of caves for houses. The 
experienced archaeologist also draws attention to Jackson's remark that finger 
imprints answering to those of women, "may still be traced in the mortar" of 
the dwellings (n. 66). Many interiors indeed are covered with smooth plaster 
in which the impressions of small and delicate fingers appear. 

Of course, women and children formerly lived on the "inaccessible ledges"; 
and sons, fathers, husbands, or brothers, away perhaps hunting in distant glens 
or forests, -were comparatively free from anxiety concerning the condition of 
loved ones at home. And if savages with tomahawks and scalping knives 
came stealing through ravines to the foot of impregnable stairways, the mothers 
aloft, pressing children to their breasts and looking down on baffled foes, must 
have felt something of the emotion which throbs through the well-known lines, 
written indeed by a woman, — 

For the strength of the hills we bless Thee, 

Our God, our fathers' God! 
Thou hast made Thy children mighty 

By the touch of the mountain sod; 
Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge 

Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod; — 
For the strength of the hills we bless Thee, 

Our God, our fathers' God I 

And if in the darkness of night, the awaited signal or cry were heard aris- 
ing from the heart of the abyss, how quickly the doors would be opened and 
ropes lowered and torches tightea to help the hunters to their homes on high I 
Torches flaming and eyes gleaming. Lights flashing in all directions. An 
illumination of torches. No wonder the Canyon was noted for its chuh yuen 
and cave dwellings. 

Lights, Climbing, and Caves, say the Ancients. 

Lights, Climbing, and Caves, say the Moderns. 

The account continues thus: 

26. Leang (the principal, the chief; a bridge, a beam.) 

27. kien (official writing; to mark; a slip of bamboo for making notes on; 
a classifier of folios or sheets.) 

28. wan (strokes, lines, literature, literary; a despatch.) 

29. Ta (Great.) 

30. Hoh (Canyon.) 

31. fu (to spread abroad as decrees; to exact; to demand.) 

A leang or chief is here referred to in connection with the Great Canyon. 
The ruler is not exactly called the King or supreme head (chwen suh). In- 
deed, we have been already informed that the head ruler wss a mere nurse- 
ling (at the time when he abandoned his Lute in the Canyon) and such an 
infant carried about by the mother who had just brought him into the world, 
among the cliffs and canyons, would evidently have been unable to either write 
or issue decrees. Of course, however, a nominally subordinate chief (or 



28 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



leang I might have attended to the details of government and ruled or directed 
the movements of the Sun people in the name of the infant King. Such a 
minister might have spread abroad decrees or commc.nds within the Canyon. 

Are any v^ritings to be seen on its w^alls? 

An explorer already in part quoted, says: "At last we meet Captain Bishop 

with his flaming torch On a broad shelf we find the ruins of an old stone 

house, the walls of which are broken down, and we can see where the ancient 
people who lived here— a race more highly civilized than the present-— had 
made a garden, and used a great spring, that comes out of the rocks, for irriga> 
tion. On some rocks near by we discover some curious etchings'' (n. 67). 

Here are cliff writings. 

Again, on the brink of a rock 200 feet high stands an old house. its walls 

are of stone, laid in mortar, with much regularity On the face of the cliff, 

under the building and along down the river for 200 or 300 yards, there are 
many etchings." 

Here are writings "spread abroad" within the Ta-hoh or Great Canyon. 
Not painted on the cliffs, but cut into the stone ! Beyond the reach or malice 
of savage tribes, they doubtless furnished directions to friendly clans, telling 
where certain companies had moved, and so forth. 

"On many of the tributaries of the Colorado 1 have heretofore examined 
their deserted dwellings. . . . Sometimes the mouths of caves have been walled 
across and there are many other evidences to show their anxiety to secure 
defensible positions. Probably the nomadic tribes were sweeping down upon 

them, and they resorted to these cliffs and canyons for safety Here I stand 

where these now lost people stood centuries ago, and look over this strange 
country." 

The former chief of the Ethnological Bureau also says that at the mouth of 
the Colorado Chiquito he discovered some curious remains, such as ruins and 
pottery, also "etchings and hieroglyphics on the rocks." 

Some of the cliff or cave dwellings are singularly impressive. Baron Nord- 
enskiold, says of one, called the "Cliff Palace," that it well deserves its proud 

name, "for with its round towers and high walls deep in the mysterious 

twilight of the cavern, and defying in their sheltered site the ravages of time, it 
resembled at a distance an enchanted castle." 

And Chapin exclaims: "Surely its discoverer had not overstated the beauty 
and magnitude of this strange ruin. There it was, occupying a great oval space 
under a grand cliff wonderful to behold, appearing like an immense ruined cas- 
tle with dismantled towers" (n. 68). 

And yet Dr. Fewkes very rationally refuses to regard it as a "palace" — 
occupied merely by a king and servants or else officers of state managing an 
empire. Of course some nook within sheltered its ruler. But it is merely a 
pueblo-set within a cave. One French visitor says: "11 est probable que Cliff- 
Palace n'abritait pas moins de 503 personnes" (n. 69). 

At this rate it would have required forty such structures for equivalent 
clusters of apartments) to shelter, say, 20,000 individuals. 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 29 



There is mention of cave dwellings in connection with the Great Canyon; 
and as Sun people with a supreme ruler (although but a suckling) are repre- 
sented as climbing within the chasm, with the aid of torches, we expect to find 
curious remains in connection with the caverns. Nor are we disappointed. 
Here are mouths of caves walled up for defensive purposes. Here are ram- 
parts, towers, and fortified structures classed with castles. 

We are informed that decrees were spread abroad in the Canyon; and 
searching for the ancient inscriptions, we find that they are cut into the cliffs. 
This shows that the former dwellers were able to cut and work stone; and 
abundant remains of masonry are at hand to sustain this deduction. 

The personality of the ju, or suckling ruler, remains to be investigated, 
and should yield curious — most surprising — results; but, of course, reasonable, 
logical critics will not for an instant confound such an inquiry with that just 
finished. Even absolute failure to unearth the facts with regard to the Prince 
and his royal mother, can not shake the plain fact that we have actually found 
an account of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, and the Gulf of Califor- 
nia, in an ancient Chinese book. 

PIMO AND THE CASAS GRANDES 

It may further be remarked that the Chinese paragraph which immed- 
iately follows the account of our Canyon, mentions a place called "Pi-mo." 

This is its pronunciation in Canton, but in Shanghai, where mo is accord, 
ed the sound of mu (see Williams' diet. p. 1 154 and p. 1 186, column 6) Pi-mo 
would be called Pi-mu. Now, this Pi-mo or Pi-mu is said (see existing trans- 
lation) to be situated in the "south-east corner of the desert beyond the eastern 
sea." 

Proceeding eastward until the "Eastern Sea," which washes the coast of 
China, is crossed, the modern investigator reaches California and Arizona. And 
here, in the region or basin of the Colorado, he finds a place still called "Pi-mo." 
It is in Arizona, with a "desert" of sand — the desert of California and Sonora — 
to its west and south, and a region of running streams, grass, and forests to its 
east. Pimo is itself in the "desert" — in a "south-east corner of the desert be- 
yond the Eastern Sea." It is entirely dependent on artificial irrigation for its 
limited power to support human beings. 

Here are ruined buildings whose origin is shrouded in mystery and around 
or about which controversies have raged for centuries. 

One visitor, an American officer, states that his General "asked a Pirr.o, 
who made the house 1 had seen?" The house was one of the Casas Grandes 
in the neighborhood of Pimo. Who had made it? was now the question. 
The reply was: "It was built by the son of the most beautiful woman who 
once dwelt in yon mountain; she was fair and all the handsome men came to 
court her, but in vain; when they came, they paid tribute, and out of this small 
store she fed all people in times of famine and it did not diminish." 

Moreover, "at last she brought forth a boy, who was the builder of all 
these houses." 



30 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



The Pimo Indian "seemed unwilling to talk about them, but said there 
were plenty more of them to the north, south, west, etc." (note 70.) 

[Was the royal suckling or Prince ever carried down into the neighboring 
Grand Canyon by the beneficient being, his mother? Was he a shao hao (as 
the Chinese might say) or little Child of the Sun? Did he ever see the Cliff 
Palace? Were he and his people connected with the cave and cliff-dwellings? 
And when he retired from the Canyon did he fail to take with him a Lute?] 

If the royal suckling (or ju) of the Chinese account ever actually lived in 
the neighborhood of the Grand Canyon, or in the vicinity of Pimo, and was 
connected with a restless or troubled nation of Cliff Dwellers or stone-house 
builders, why should not the Indians have some traditional, even if but hazy 
recollection of both the suckling and his imperial mother? The forefathers of 
the Pimos must have beheld them, and it is difficult to suppose that the 
ancient legendary knowledge has completely evaporated from the aboriginal 
memory. As we have learned the construction of the Casas Grandes at Pimo 
is connected with the advent or movements of an intelligent, even if harassed 
race of Builders who owed allegiance to a Princess or her child. And if it is a 
fact that in a time of famine the royal lady fed the ancestors of the Pimos, we 
wonder not that the nation has enshrined her image within its ceaselesp, 
throbbing heart. The hill-top on which she gave birth to her suckling is 
remembered to the present hour and was pointed to by the Pimo interpreter 
when telling the American General about the merciful being who fed the 
hungry in a time of famine (and perhaps had relieved or cheered his own 
ancestor.) 

Let us not overlook or snub the fact that Pimo — the Pimo of "the region 
beyond the Eastern Sea" is actually mentioned in the same breath with the 
Grand Canyon and the Gulf. It is represented by characters numbered 9 and 
10 in the extract from the ancient Chinese volume, now set before the patient 
and intelligent reader who appreciates or perceives the difficulties connected 
with the present investigation. 

The last column (reading from right to left) consists of 12 characters, which 
express the following sense : Ta — H0— east— south — corner- has — shan (moun- 
tain or height) — called — Pi mo — ti— kiu. 

The I 1th term, ti, stands for "place;" and a kiu is a level-topped hill. As 
it is also called a shan (see No. 7), the kiu should be a prominent eminence 
having a level space on top. 

The name Pi-mo is expressed by putting Pi, which signifies "skin" or 
"case," along with mo, which simply stands for "mother." 

A mother, or a maternal case is connected with the Pi-mo kiu or level- 
topped hill. Is such an eminence to be seen in the vicinity of Pi-mo? Has it 
a flat summit? Are there any signs that it was inhabitea by the queen of the 
Builders? The Pimo Indian told the general that on the hill-top in the vicinity 
— in the Lower Gila Valley— a female ruler gave birth to a child. Is there 
any foundation for the legend? Where is her house? 

Referring to the structures in Arizona, an observer draws particular at- 
tention to one "comparatively intact in the lower Gila valley." He says: "The 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 31 







32 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



hill on which it is built rises abruptly from the surrounding lowlands to the 
height of a full thousand feet. Near the northwest corner the ancient strategists 
began at a height of thirty feet, carving a narrow pathway to the summit. 
Here an irregular stone staircase has been made, passable by one person at a 
time. At intervals watchtowers were constructed, from which huge boulders 
could be hurled down upon the advancing foe. 

"The road makes three complete circles above the hill before reaching the 
upper level." [Here is a level-topped hill or kiu.] "Here another monument 
of early fortitude inspired by the love of life presents itself. There is, perhaps, 
three acres of level rock on the summit. For a depth of nearly two feet the 
entire plateau is covered with rich soil 'packed up' from below. When one 
pauses to think of the immense labor involved in carrying this mass of earth 
up the irregular winding stone staircase, a feeling of admiration springs up for 
these simple patient people." 

It is plain that there is a level-topped hill ^or kiu) in the vicinity of Pimo. 
And it is directly connected in Indian tradition with the movements of a race of 
builders who reared "all these houses," and were directed or governed by a 
beneflcient being who here gave birth to a remarkable prince. But it is enough 
at present to observe that the Chinese symbols connect Pimo — the Pimo of the 
"region beyond the Eastern Sea" — with a Mother, or notable Birth. And when 
the American General — in our region beyond the Eastern Sea — inquires at 
Pimo for information, concerning its now silent and forsaken ruins, the Pimo in- 
terpreter instantly responds by raising his arm and pointing to the hill of the 
royal birth. 

The Hill of the Maternal Case is there, say the Chinese. 

The Hill of the Maternal Case is Here, say the Pimos. 

The hill is prominent or lofty and quite level on top. It is in truth a kiu 
(pronounced like our own word cue) and holds aloft some impregnable 
dwellings and also a green spot or abandoned garden — clay having been 
carried aloft a thousand feet by devoted Builders in part to raise flowers for the 
young mother. But, of course, her own bud was the brightest of all. And 
every one told her so. And what a wide view from the summit! And how 
cool the air up there! How different from the blazing Canyon (with its hidden 
or abandoned Lute.) 

"The General asked a Pimo, who made the house 1 had seen? 'It is the 
Casa de Montezuma', said he; it was built by the son of the most beautiful 
woman who once dwelt in yon mountain; she was fair — " 

Notice here the name "Montezuma." 

The Casas Grandes at Pimo were fortunately seen by Spanish explorers in 
the 16th century, and "the Indians then assigned them an age of no less than 
500 years." (note 71.) 

Of course the Casa Grande Montezuma (or Builder Prince of the 1 Ith 
century) could not have been the Montezuma v\rho was overthrown by Cortez 
in the 16th century. As well confound William of Normindy with William of 
Holland, because each was a William! Let fools do that! 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 33 



One writer says with regard to the legends of the sedentary Indians, that 
"the name of Montezuma runs through all of these— not generally referring to 
the king whom we are accustomed to identify with that name, but to the great 
chief of the golden or heroic age." (n. 72) 

There are noticeable variations in the name or title of the ancient king. 
Thjs one Spanish explorer speaks of "the Casa Grande, or palace of Moc-te- 
zuma" (n. 73.) 

Here we have Moc (or Mok, as it is by others spelled) instead of Mon (ti- 
zuma. ) 

Another authority furnishes the spelling Mo-te-cuh-zoma, and adds, that 
it is "found written also Moc-te-zuma, Mu-teczuma, Mo-texuma" (n. 74.) 

Notice the three different spellings or sounds — Mo, Mu, and Mok, prefixed 
to "te-zuma.." 

The title te or ti (or te-cuh) signifies warrior or lordly ruler (n. 75.) As 
for suma it is said to mean "sad, angry, or severe." [But soma may include 
an allusion to the water of immortality and embrace the notion of divine 
descent.] 

Mok (the te-zuma) Mo or Mu were names or titles bestowed on the 
llth century Builder Prince who was connected with the construction of the 
Casas Grandes in the Pimo section, and was born on a prominent hill-top there. 
He was Mok, Mo or Mu. , 

Turning to the Chinese account we find that the royal ju or suckling 
connected wtih the region of the Grand Canyon and Pimo, was likewise known 
as Mu. (note 76.) 

In addition, the suckling is repeatedly called a ti (or te as it is just as often 
spelled.) And this, so far, agrees with the title of the Pimo infant, whose name 
is frequently said to be Mu-ti (zuma.) 

A Mu-ti, say the Chinese. 

A Mu-ti, say the Pimos. 

According to the Chinese record, the imperial (ti or te) heir apparent (or 
yuen-tsz) suckling or baby ''ju) whose estate or patrimony (chan^ was 
Loh-ming (name of a region) lived or resided (ku) as the tender, delicate 
youth (yao) Mu. 

Here we see that the heir apparent the ju or baby was both Mu and a ti. 
The old account connects the infantile ruler with a region called Loh-ming. 
We need not delay to ascertain the position of this province or land; enough 
now to observe that wherever it was. the ju and ti lived there (or lived some 
where) as the pleasing and tender Mu. 

The baby was Mu. 

This name, like some of our own names, such as Grace, Patience. Clement, 
is frequently used as tn adjective. It may stand for either "beauty" or 
"majesty," but it is also, at times, a surname, (note 77.) 



34 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



As already seen, the Great Canyon with the connected bottomless abyss, in 
the region beyond the Eastern Sea, is connected with the Sun and Moon Shan. 
And on this Shan is "the Great Men's Country" (see existing translation.) 
Now a Chinese comment (note 78) informs us that the forts of the entirely 
great Mu formerly held or possessed this Great Men's Country (which is on 
the Sun and Moon Shan.) 

Information is next furnished concerning the largest Walrusses, and it is 
plain that the polar region is referred to. The account is quite clear, as any 
Chinese scholar can see, now that we have pointed out the position of the 
passage. 

It might seem advisable to prove that the haunt of the Walrus was known 
to the ancient Chinese writers who have furnished accounts of America, but it 
is unneccessary to do this, seeing that the phenomenon of Ten Suns, which is 
only visible at the Artie Circle, is referred to in the ancient books, Moreover, 
as we have learned, appearances of five or seven suns (or moons) shining 
simultaneously in the sky, are distinctly connected with the Sun and Moon Shan. 
It was therefore known that the mountain system of North America, stretches 
upward- like the Branches of a Tree — from the vicinity of the Grand Canyon 
to the Polar region, or place of the Ten Suns. And from a point here, the 
shores of North-eastern Tartary or Asia can be seen without even the aid of an 
opera-glass. 

It now appears that in the remote past there was a ruler named Mu dwell- 
ing in the mountainous land which stretches from the Grand Canyon to the 
Artie Ocean. His domain was on the Sun and Moon Shan. 

And he had fortified dwellings or forts. 

Where, today, are the remains of the ancient strongholds? 

One observer says with reference to the cliff-dwellings, that they "have 
the appearance of fortified retreats. The occupants, on account of "decending 
hordes devised these unassailable retreats The builders hold no small- 
est niche in recorded history. Their aspirations, their struggles and their fate 
are all unwritten, save in these crumbling stones, which are their sole monu- 
ments and meagre epitaph. Here once they dwelt. They left no other print 
on time." (note 79.) 

The "unassailable retreats" noticed by this melancholy writer may well 
be some of the strongholds of Mu and his followers or warriors. The ancient 
pueblos (or Casas Grandes) are of great strength. When the "ladders are 
drawn in, the various sides present a perpendicular front to an enemy, and the 
building itself becomes a fortress." Further, "The strength of the walls of 
these structures was proved during the Mexican war, when it was found that 
they were impregnable to field-artillery. " Cnote 80.) 

The Spanish soldier, Castenada, in the 16th century said with regard to the 
Pimo Casa Grande, that "it seemed to have served as a fortress." ( note 81 .) 

Now, Pimo -represented by the symbols for a maternal case and hill — is 
mentioned on the very page of the Chinese book which notices our Grand 
Canyon. Then, we are told that cliff-dwellings were here and a Sun Prince 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 35 



(at first a mere ju or infant) called Mu, and that he or his followers erected 
forts or fortresses. 

And here we find no scarcity of ancient strongholds. 

And when we ask the Indians for the name of the ruler who governed the 
now decaying strongholds, their answer is — Mu. 

The very title in the Chinese book. 

Mu, say the Ancients. 

Mu, say our Indians. 

It may be said that some of the latter pronounce the title Mo. One of our 
philologists speaks of "Montezuma, or more correctly, Motecuhzoma." 
(note 82.) 

Another authority says: "Montezuma, or more correctly, Moctezuma." 
(note 83.) 

In his account of the Caea Grande, the old time Spanish traveler, Padre 
Garces, says: On this river is situated the house which they call Moctezuma's 
(note 84. ) 

It is evident that the two pronunciations Mo and Mok are preferred to 
Mon (tezuma) and that Mu has also its advocates. 

Curiously enought, these three sounds Mu, Mo, and Mok, are likewise 
applied to the one character by the Chinese literati. 

The identical symbol which Williams calls Mu is in another dictionary 
(see Bailley's, iii, p. 246) termed Mo. 

Morrison (vol. IV, p. 600-1 ) says that the two sounds Mu and Mo are both 
applied, and that in Canton this selfsame character is called Mok. 

It thus appears that the builder or ruler of the fortresses in the region 
beyond the Eastern Sea, might be called Mu, Mo, or Mok. 

And in the region referred to — "the region beyond the Eastern Sea" — we 
find many strongholds or forts (as well as cave-dwellings;) and when anti- 
quarians inquire of the Indians for the name of the ancient Builder Prince, they 
are variously informed that he was the glorious Mu, Mo, or Mok. 

If the royal infant (or ju) became in process of time a ruler of fortresses 
(tai) which "formerly held the Great Men's Country" (on the Sun and Moon 
Shan) would be surprising to find that he himself had been born within the 
shelter of a tai or fortress. And what is the fortified hill at Pimo but a 
fortress? He counts it as the first of the forts of Mu or Mo-ti in "the region 
beyond the Eastern Sea." 

Remember that our own government has erected numbers of forts on hill- 
tops throughout the South-west expressly for the purpose of holding such tribes 
as the Navajoes and Apaches in check. (And in addition we are furnishing 
the red men with supplies.) But in the I Ith century there were no Congress- 
ional appropriations, no detachments of troops hurrying down from Washington 
to preserve order. Yet the ancestors of our savage tribes were certainly there. 
And although the warrior chieftans immediately around the young queen 
appear to have been filled with jealousy of each other, it is certain that they 



36 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



were united as one in devising for the princess a calm or sure retreat which no 
barbaric host could take by assault. From its base the savage ranks would 
reel, or break into foam like waves of the sea. 

Aloft in this secure retreat she gave birth to Mo. 

Who wras his father? 

The American General already referred to, supplies his own report of the 
Pimo interpreter's words: 

"All he knew was a tradition amongst them, 'that in bygone days, a woman 
of surpassing beauty resided in a green spot in the mountains near the place 
where we were encamped. All the men admired and paid court to her. She 
received the tributes of their devotion, grain, skins, etc., but gave no love or 
other favor in return. Her virtue and her determination to remain unmarried 
were equally firm. There came a draught which threatened the world with 
famine. In their distress, people applied to her, and she gave corn from her 
stock, and the supply seemed to be endless. Her goodness was unbounded. 
One day, as she was lying asleep with her body exposed, a drop of rain fell on 
her stomach, which produced conception. A son was the issue, the founder 

of a new race which built all these houses' The houses of the people 

(the agricultural or sedentary Pimos) are mere sheds, thatched with willow 
and corn stalks" (n. 85.) 

This report is more rational than the other in so far as it represents the 
multitudinous houses of stone or adobe as being reared by a "race" rather than 
by a "boy"l But, of course, the "son" could not have been the "founder" of 
his mother or of her ancestors. It is further apparent that the infant could not 
have been either the builder or inventor of the house or stronghold in which 
he was born. 

Of course it is an impossibility to get at the exact truth in relation to the 
mysterious birth. The unwedded lady's own account ought to constitute a 
sufficient explanation, and would- but for the unfortunate historic fact that no 
mother has ever been known to tell her children the truth about their produc- 
tion. Even Christian mothers lie precisely like Pagans in this respect, and are 
just as thorough-going humbugs as Hannah in the temple, when questioned for 
details. They will tell a poor helpless, green, inquiring child, for instance, that 
they found him in a cabbage, when the actual truth is that they got him from a 
stork. We therefore unanimously dismiss their worse than useless testimony 
as that of a shameless pack of preposterous deluderers. 

It is probable that the Pimo princess may have been secretly wedded or 
united to some man whom she really loved and preferred to all others. Yet 
an open avowal of such preference might have caused his death or might have 
turned the love of rival suitors into hate and brought about the ruin of the 
already sufficiently perplexed and troubled nation. 

But would not the birth of the infant have revealed all? 

Certainly, but in the present instance the Quean seems to have contented 
herself with ihe announcement that she had got her child from Heaven. Her 
friends, including doubtless the priests, at once spread abroad the story that the 
infant — the Child of the Sun was of celestial origin. This tale may not have 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 37 



completely satisfied the numerous rival claimants for the lady's hand. But how 
disprove it? And why assail or shake the authority of the beautiful young 
queen? Why not draw closer together, bury their mutual animosities or rivalries 
and face the murderous hordes thronging the passes of the- Rocky Mountains 
and slopes of the Mississippi Valley? Why not grasp at the hope -embodied 
in the suckling born on the hilltop— that Heaven had furnished a leader, a re- 
incarnated divinity of the wandering nation, who would guide the despairing 
people onward to new fields of national glory and prosperity. 

It may of course be said that such predictions were never realized, but it 
is certain that they were cherished. Even the Mokis, Tunis and Pimos still 
regard Mo-ti as immortal and await his return. He is "the demigod of their 
earliest traditions, watching over them from Heaven and waiting to come again 
to bring to them victory and a period of millenial glory and happiness " (n. 86.) 
And, of course, those who actually followed the leader Mu must have felt 
8':rongly the ties of affection and veneration. And who were the people who 
got across to Mongolia with accounts of our Grand Canyon, Gulf and Conti- 
nental Tree — crowned with its wreath of multiplied suns? 

[Doubtless the notion that our Mu-te (or Te-Mu) was of divine origin, 
had a surprising, stimulating effect. Curiously enough, Asiatic writers notice a 
Te-mu (Te-mu-dzin or Temugin) who arose in Tartary in the early part of 
the 12th century, and therfore might be regarded as the contemporary of our 
Mu born at Pimo about the year I 100. Some say this Tartarean conqueror 
was called Timour or Temur-chi, and his origin is wrapt in mystery. One 
account treats him as a demigod, but other statements assume that a divinity 
■was his remote ancestor. He is said to belong to the rcce that broke out of 
Irkena Kon (or the mountain valley), situated in some out of the way and 
dangerous region. Personally this Mu came from a distant land. Some his- 
torians whose time is valuable readily find Irkena Kon in the vicinity of the 
Caspian Sea, but others declare that it must be situated in the direction of the 
Arctic Ocean! 

[In his old age, in or about the year 1 133, this supposed demigod had a 
child born to him. The name of Temudzin or Temugin was bestowed upon 
the infant. When thirteen years old his father— the demigod — died, and the 
extensive empire which the parent had established fell into political pieces. 
Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap. LXIV, says that 
the young prince Temugin could only claim authority over about 12,000 fami- 
lies. We should never overlook this fact when contemplating his career. 
Every incident in his history is known. His name has resounded through the 
world. He rose to be a mighty conqueror. He became Jenghiz Khan - King 
of Kings — grandsire of Kublai Khan, ancestor of Tamerlane and the Great 
Moguls, and of no end of Persian or Moslem Sultans or Kings. 

[The immediate followers of Jenghiz Khan always declared that success 
awaited him because he was the son of a God. Petis de la Croix denounces 
such a claim as a piece of "insolence," yet it might better be regarded as a 
form of delusion. But notice the victorious lengths to which this delusion 
carried believers. And the notion promulgated at Pimo, in the midst of crowd- 



38 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



ing calamities, — that the royal infant was a Son of Heaven,- might have been 
intended to console and stimulate a despairing nation. And the spiritual stim- 
ulus appears to have transported its believers to such lengths that aboriginal 
Americans seem to have lost track of the demigod, and know not from what 
point he may return. 

(The father of Temugin was the founder of the Yuen dynasty, or at all 
events an ancestral king. He is generally called Yisukai or Pysukai Behadur, 
but such is a mere title, signifying "9th hero," and not a proper name at all. 
Some lucid commentators will positively tell us that it was not the father 
of Jenghiz Khan, but his 9th father or ancestor, who was the God. But with 
such hair-splitting w^e need not concern ourselves. Enough to note the upli^- 
ing, psychological effect or result of faith or belief in divine aid or protection. 
No v/onder David exclaims: "Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." 

[in the case of the Tartars, the re iults of their exalted f-iith were indeed sur- 
prising. The Crusades of the Christians had proved a failure. Jerusalem had 
passed from their hands. Richard, King of England, had been taken prisoner. 
The Moslems, according to Gibbon, were preparing for the invasion of Europe. 
Their brethren were actually intrenched in the heart of Spain. Enraged against 
western nations for the long war waged against their power, armies were 
gathering for the conquest and plunder of Christendom. The crescent instead 
of the cross, says Gibbon, was to glitter on the spire of St. Paul's. 

[But at this very juncture, Jenghiz Khan and his followers came pouring 
forth from the wilds of Tartary. The Sultan felt secure within his line of forti- 
fied cities which hitherto had repelled every assault. But the Tartarean host — 
led by warriors of the race from Irkena Kon — overthrew the Moslems in every 
encounter. They ransacked the provinces and gave the cities to the flames. 
And the children or successors of the conqueror completed the work which he 
had begun. Bagdad which for ages had successfully defied the invading, 
crusading armies of Europe, was destroyed, and an end put to the Ca'iphate so 
long enthroned within its historic walls. The conquest of China was completed 
by Kublai Khan, and ;'n empire formed which stretched from the Indian Ocean 
to the Arctic, and from the Pacific to the Mediterranean Sea.] 

Even traditions of tribes that most certainly remained behind in Arizona 
and consequently did not disappear in company with the mysterious Mu or 
Mo-te, declare that he was an agent of Providence. He was the "equal" of 
the "Great Spirit" and "was often considered identical with the Sun" (n. 87.) 
Had he remained in Arizona, his son in due time might have claimed divine 
descent through his father the demigod. 

CHINESE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PIMO DEMIGOD. 

But if the Mu-te (or Te-Mu,) builder or ruler of fortresses in the region of 
Pimo and the Grand Canyon, was identical with our Pimo Mu-te, he should be 
referred to as semi-divine, in the Chinese record. 

And so he actually is. Even here the evidence does not fail. But con- 
ception of the little sun-child did not occur on the well watched or guarded 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 39 



hilltop at Pimo. It was in a green wilderness noted for its hay or grass and 
butchering of beasts, that a phantasm approached the female- and so on. 

Fortunately we can turn away from this particular account of the visit of 
incubus, seeing that the necessary information is more conveniently furnished 
elsewhere (n. 88.) The name of a mountain, which may or may not have been 
far indeed from the Grand Canyon, is furnish«d, and we are informed that 
Shao Hao dwelt (ku) there (chi.) In addition he is called a soverign (ti or te) 
and a shan. 

Now this term, shan, according to Williams (p. 737,) stands for "the gode, 
the divinities, a god, a supernatural good being; divine; spiritual, as being 
higher than man; godlike, wonderful, superhuman; to deify. 

The Shao Hao (or Mu-ti) is a shan or god. 

A god! say the Chinese. 

A godl say the Indians. 

Taking the account as it stands, it appears that an incarnated god 'in the 
shape of the Shao Hao Mu) was at one time within the Grand Canyon (which 
still retains his "lute.") 

Notice that the "country contiguous to the mighty chasm is called the 
"Shao Hao's country." 

Next observe that the vast chasm (or ta-hoh) is itself called the Great 
Canyon of the Incarnated God (or Keang Shang.) Shang stands for "Heaven" 
or supreme;'' and Keang signifies "to decend from a higher level, to come from 
the sky, to fall as rain, to come into the world as Christ did" (Williams.) The 
contiguous country is named in honor of the Shao Hao, or sun-child, who is 
called a shan or god. And "Keang Shang's ta-hoh ' or great Canyon is also 
named in honor of this shan or god— this incarnated god. 

And here, "in the region beyond the Eastern Sea," the land is ringing with 
his name. He was Mu or Mo-te and a builder of forts, and above and beyond 
all this Ite was an incarnation of the Great Spirit! 

"The name, at this moment, is as familiar to every Indian, Apache and 
Navajoe as that of our Savior or Washington is to us'' (n. 89.) 

Bancroft says: "Under restrictions, we may fairly regard him as the Mel- 
chizedek, the Moses, and the Messiah of the Pueblo desert-wanderers from an 
Egypt that history is ignorant of, and whose name even tradition whispers not. ' 

A Messiah and Demigod! say the Chinese. 

A Messiah and Demigod! say Americans. 

Bancroft, says, that according to Indian paintings or traditions, the Messiah 
or Demigod of Pueblo tradition had red or yellow hair. 

Then Mo was a white man and his mother a white woman. 

Such a conclusion agrees completely with the teaching of the ancient Chi- 
nese book just quoted. We are informed with reference to a certain mountain, 
that: Ki (the) shan (god or spirit) poh (white) ti (sovereign) Shao hao (little 
sun-child) ku (dwelt) chi (there). 

Next appears a comment stating in the plainest possible terms that Shao 
Hao of the Kin Tien dynasty was a virtuous or excellent ruler. 



40 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



The Shao Hao who was at the Ta-hoh or Great Canyon is here called a 
White King. 

Mons. Rosny, in his French translation, declares that the divine or super- 
human Shao Hao was " I'empereur Blanc." (note 90.) 

One well known writer and archaeologist says with reference to the build- 
ers of some structures in the Pimo region, that there is "reason to suppose that 
they were a light-skinned people. At least one red-haired skull and one with 
still lighter hair were found. Hair has been but rarely found not over a half 
dozen times in all. In three cases it was black." (note 91.) 

According to aboriginal testimony, 800 years have rolled by since the time 
of burial, and hair has lingered on but few of the heads it once adorned. But 
when discovered it is seen to be quite different from the hair of the Indians. 

Those interested in the subject of the Cliff-dwellers should study the 
accurate reports of the Ethnological Bureau and also the writings of Editor 
Peet the well known "American Antiquarian." These works should be in the 
libraries of all Americanists. 

According to the American Antiquarian, Doctor Birdsall reports that dried 
bodies have been found in tombs on the Mesa Verde in Arizona and the "hair 
of the head has been found partly preserved on some mummies. !t is said to 
be of fine texture, not coarse like Indian hair and varying in color from shades 

of yellowish brown to reddish brown and black" The Wetherills exhumed 

one mummy having a short brownish beard." (note 92) 

We are further informed that mummies have been taken from "a hermeti- 
cally sealed cave in the Canyon of the Gila River, "and two of the bodies were 
those of women. The females "retain their long, flowing silken hair." The 
"bodies were covered with highly colored clothes, which crumbled on ex- 
posure. Three kinds were saved, and one a deep blue woven in diamond 
shapes. No implements or utensils were found. . . . All the consuls and many 
scientific men inspected the mummies yesterday. Among those present were 
Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, N. Y., Kate Field, Dr. Harkness, Academy of 
Sciences." Other Doctors and Professors were present and also "Historian 
Bancroft." (n. 93.) 

In addition to all this. Professor C. L. Webster, the accomplished, pains- 
taking, and trusted scientist of Charles City, Iowa, has unearthed a body whose 
silent testimony is truly inestimable. In the "Archaeological Bulletin," issued 
by the International Society of Archaeologists (Madison, Indiana,) for July and 
September, 1912, we find a photograph of a mummy brought to light by the 
Professor in a cliff-house on a head stream of the Gila. 

The body is that of a child, and its preservation is due to "the chemical 
elements of the soil," etc. 

"The hair on the head of the mummy was of a beautiful dark brown color, 
and of a soft and silky texture," and "the hair on the head of this mummified 
child is of the same color and texture (only finer) as that of adults found braid- 
ed in long plaits in an adjoining room'" — Page 78. 

The Professor believes that "different races" were here contending for the 
mistery of the region, and that "one or more of thsm ware driven out (perhaps 
destroyed) suddenly" (see article I.) 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 41 



Another archaeologist says, that "quite recently hieroglyphics were dis- 
covered in the Tonto Basin country, depicting the driving out of white people 
by red men, and local archaeologists have set up a theory that the people who 
once cultivated these valleys were white. The present Indians have many 
legends of white men being in their country before the advent of the Spanish 
conquistodores. Father Marcas Niza, a pious Jesuit, who accompanied Coron- 
ado on his march through this section in search of the seven lost cities of Cibola, 
speaks frequently of allusions made by Indians to white bearded men who 
were here before" (n. 94.) 

[In tracking the missing white race, remember that some of the Toltecs, 
like the Mayas of Yucatan, compressed the skull in childhood, that they had 
among them a sprinkling of very large men 'quinames, ) and that in the wilder- 
ness their mode of living would be more like that of Indians than of cultured, 
civilized people.] 

Mons. Charney has argued that the Mexican Toltecs were of a white race, 
but very foolishly argues (like Baron Humboldt) that the Toltecs marched from 
Mongolia to Mexico in the 6th century. The illustrious Humboldt has served 
Archaeology enormously by drawing attention to the absolute and startling 
identity of the Zodiacal signs of the Manchu Tartars with those of Central 
America (see Mr. Vining's exceedingly comprehensive and valuable work en- 
titled "An Inglorious Columbus.") 

Skilled, scientific archaeologists connected with the Washington Bureau 
have all along been contending that the cliff or cave dwellings, forts, pueblo-, 
and mounds of North America were constructed by native-born Americans, 
rather than by Toltecs moving in, say, the 6th century from Tarti-ry to Arizona 
or Mexico, 

Therefore, as the Toltecs (sun-people and architects or builders) were 
certainly settled in Mexico for some centuries prior to the 1 Ith (when the rem- 
nant disappeared,) the ancestors of the pale-faced and cultured people (see 
Vming's chapter on the "Toltecs") may like ourselves have reached America 
by crossing the Atlantic. The Greek face, the Celtic face, the Saxon face, and 
the Jewish or Semitic face are all seen carved on the tottering walls of temples 
and palaces in Yucatan (see Charney's essays.) 

Moving to the Vale of Mexico, the Toltecs tried with more or less success 
to keep on neighborly terms with the red skinned people. But thoughtless 
propagation produced more mouths than could be filled — except with human 
flesh. Open war broke out in the 1 Ith century. The Aztecs or others of the 
red tribes almost annihilated the Whites; and Topiltzin Qyetzalcoatl, the "last" 
King of the Toltecs fled north from Chapultepec,- the selfsame Chapultepec 
which in our own day has seen the downfall of Maxmillian and the flight 
of Diaz. 

May not the fair and beautiful Princess at Pimo have belonged to the out- 
cast Mexican royal family? May not her idolized child have inherited titles 
absurdly out of place among the deserts of Arizona? And may not all the 
e'.ements in our later Yankee nation have been represented in the pale-faced 
people that found re fjge among the canyons and cliffs of the Colorado? If so, 
their remote or ancestral fathers and mothers were likewise no less our own. 



42 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



The curtain of history rises and shows the young Queen of the Builders on 
a hill top at Pimo. The structures there, according to aboriginal testimony 
■were reared about the year 1 100,- the very time when the Toltecs disappeared 
from the Vale of Mexico. And now the ruins are yielding up forms of the fe- 
males who once tenanted those cliffs and contrived to get plaster and paint with 
w^hich to adorn the now desolate and trembling walls. And the yellow, brovk^n, 
or silky black hair on the heads of those women who sought to make their 
bleak and dreary homes attractive, shows unfailingly their race. Even an 
ostrich might see itl 

Mons. Charney declares that the Toltecs expelled from Mexico in the 1 Ith 
century were scholars, artists, astronomers, and philosophers. And their sis- 
ters were certainly no less cultured and refined. 

Now, the Shan Hai King states that in "the region beyond the Eastern Sea" 
there is (or was) a "Country of Refined Gentlemen." 

And Charney argues that "a gentle race were the Toltecs, preferring the 
arts to war." 

Refined and Gentle — men, says Charney. 

Refined Gentlemen, says the Shan Hai King. 

Certain comments collected by Jin Chin Ngan, and unnoticed in Mr. Vm- 
ing's translation (p. 637), connect the Refined Gentlemen with pyramids (k'iu) 
and even declare that their dwellings were on mounds (ling). 

And Charney says: "Now, the first thing that we find at the houses of Tula 
is an example of a mode of building entirely ne'w and curious. The prevailing 
tendency of the Toltec is to place his dwellings and his temples likewise upon 
eminences and pyramids. ' 

They lived upon Mounds, says Charney. 

They lived upon Mounds, says the Shan Hai King. 

"They are very gentle, and do not quarrel. They have fragrant plants. 
They have a flowering-plant which produces blossoms in the morning that die 
in the evening." 

The Chinese account calls this vegetable production the Hwa plant, and as 
Hwa stands for "glory" (see Williams' Chinese diet.) it is apparent that the 
"Morning Glory is referred to. 

Botanist Wood says: "This glorious plant is a native of Tropical America 
and now universally cultivated. It is also nearly naturalized with us." (in the 
United States ) 

"The flowers are ephemeral. Beginning to open soon after midnight, they 
greet the Sun at his rising, arrayed in all their g!ory" (Hwa) "and before he 
reaches the meridian, fold their robes and perish. But their work is done, and 
their successors, already in bud, will renew the gorgeous display the following 
morning." — P. 182. 

Such a flower might be held to symbolize the fleeting glory of the genera- 
tions which had lived and died in Central America. It still climbs about the 
temples of the Sun, saluting its divinity with a smile, and then falling prostrate 
among the desolate and forsaken altars. It may often be seen twining its arms 



ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 43 



around the monuments of a buried Past, or pressing its lips to the dust of the 
vanished race it so speedily follows. 

It lives but a day, says the American botanist. 

It lives but a day, says the Shan Hai King. 

Surely the wrorks in Arizona are worthy of the exiled Toltecs. 

One of the ancient stone structures, on a northern feeder of the Gila, is so 
strong, commodious, and so impregnably planted that by universal consent it is 
called a Castle. And because the Indian tribes persist in ascribing its construc- 
tion to Mu or Mo-te it is known as "Montezuma's Castle." The Ethnological 
Bureau has interested itself in the preservation of this impressive work of the 
so-called Cliff-dwellers, and our Government has taken charge of it as a 
"National Monument." And Ari-zona is named in honor of the Ari or "Maiden" 
— the legendary Qyeen of the Pimo zona or Pimo valley. The mother referred 
to in the ancient Chinese record is thus remembered in the title of a Yankee 
sister State. 

Her idolized son is said to have governed Forts, and in the vicinity of the 
Castle we find a number of forts. Dr. Fewkes says: "The forts were built on 
the summits, . . . and it is an instructive fact in this connection tha t one rarely 
loses sight of one of these hill forts before another can be seen." An 
"approaching foe" could be discerned and "smoke signals'' would warn field- 
workers "to retreat to the forts for protection." — 28th Rept. Bur. Amer. Eth- 
nol., p. 207. (Read also connected pages for information relating to the forts 
and their builders. The same or an allied people erected also houses in nat- 
ural caves or excavated them in soft rock." — P. 219. The latter — the excavated 
dwellings are noticed in Asiatic books and will be dealt with in next pamphlet 
— if such is ever written.) 

We have found the "Forts" and also Pimo (or Pima as some pronounce 
the name)with its Princess and her child. And have we not found the Gulf 
and Canyon referred to by the departed Ancients. Have we not found every- 
thing except perhaps the abandoned imperial Lute? And even it may yet be 
recovered. Let it be dug for at the Cliff of the Harp. Perhaps it may yet be 
resurrected — 

"A Harp that in darkness and silence forsaken 
Has slumbered while ages rolled slowly along,- 

Once more in its own native land may awaken 
And pour from its chords all the raptures of song. 

"Unhurt by the dampness that o'er it was stealing. 

Its strings in full chorus, resounding sublime. 
May 'rouse all the ardor of patriot feeling 

And gain a bright wreath from the relics of time.'' 



44 ANCIENT CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE GRAND CANYON. 



APPENDIX 

(Note 1) see Mr. Vining's "An inglorious Columbus," p. 639. (2) Jin-Chin 
Ngan's comment in 14th Book of the Shan Hai King. (3) Kane's work. (4) Van 
Troil's "Iceland." 1. 643: Headley's "Island of Fire." p. 100. (5) Dr. Le Plon- 
geons "Queen Moo." xl. xlii. 175. (6) Vining. 182. 659. 666. (7) Vining; 182. 
(8) Vining 659. (9) Vining. 659. (10) see index for essays collected by Mi. 
Vining. (II) see Chinese version of Shan Hai King, with Jin-chin-ngan's notes, 
(the latter being omitted in Mr. V.'s translation, p. 661.) (12) see either the 
Shan Hai King, book 14. or the translation of same. (13) Vin. 661. (14) Mark 
Twain's "Roughing It." p. 101. (15) Lieut. Ives' Report. Pt. 1, p. 23. (16) 
Powell's Report. (17) Scribners' Mag. Nov. 1890. (18) R. R. Co.'s Handbook 
on "Colorado." (19) Powell's Report. 

(Note 20) Stanton in Scribners' Mag. Nov. 1890. (21) Mr. F. A. Ober. 
(22) (compare Mr. Vining's translations with original Chinese statement.) (23) 
Jin-Chin-ngan's note (never hitherto translated into English.) (24) Dunraven's 
"Great Divide." (25) Vin, 647. (26) Powell's Report. 29, 35, 86. (27) Powell, 
32,71. (28) Vin. 532. (29) Stanton. (30) Mr. Clampitt's "Echoes from the 
Rocky Mts." 218. (31) Powell, p. 30, (32) "Glimpses of America" (Phila. 1894) 
p. 80. (33) Stanton. (34) "Glimpses." 78. (35) Powell, 16,30. (36) Ives. Pt. 1, 
28; ii, p. 8. (37) Powell, 63, 86. (38) "Glimpses," 78. (39) Ives, 42. 

(Note 40) Ives' Rept., Pt. I, p. 73. (41) F. A. Ober in Brooklyn Times, 
June 19,'l897. (42) Sitgreaves, 17. (43) Ives, 66. (44) Ives, III, 49. (45) 
Powell, 125. (46) "Glimpses of Amer." 78. (47) Glimpses." 83. (48) 
Powell, 55, 60, 70. (49) Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage," 139. (50) Powell, 
65,76, (51) G. W. James's "Wonders of the Colorado Desert," 30. (52) 
Murphy's "Three Wonderlands," 137. (53) Powell, 35, 63. 86, 90. (54) 
Piexot's "Romantic California." 67, 144, 148. (55) Ives. 23. (56) Sacred 
Mysteries of the Mayas", 90. ( 57) "Glimpses of Amer." p. 82. (58) F. A. 
Ober in the Brooklyn Times, June 19, '97. (59)Appleton'3 "New Amer. Cyc." 
Article Colorado. 

(Note 60) Sitgreaves' report, p. 17. (61) Ives, 107. (62) Sitgreaves, p. 18. 
(63) Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage," 255. (64) Powell's Report. (65) Powel'. 
34, 35, 124. 125. (66) Smithson. Ethnol. "Bulletin." No. 51. p. 18. (67) Powell, 
125. (68) EthnologicaP'Sulletin," No. 51, pp. 14, 15. (69) Bulletin, No. 51, p. 
19. (70) Johnson's Journal in Emory's "Reconn. of N. Mex," etc., 598-9. (71) 
Appletons" "New Am. Cyc." Article "Casas Grandes." (72) L. B. Prince's 
"New Mex.," p. 24. (73) Elliott Cones 'Comments on Garces' Diary, p. 94. 
(74) Encyc. Americana, vol. X. (75) Vining, 411. (76) see 28th character from 
last in note by Jin Chin Ngan preceding assertion in text that the Canyon has a 
beautiful mountain (Vining. 661.) (77) Morrison, IV, p. 601. (78) Jin Chin 
Ngan. (79) Murphy's "Three Wonderlands.' 152. 

Note (80) Amer. Cyc. IV. p. 50. (81) Bancroft's "Native Races," IV, 620. 
(82) New Internat. Encyc. XIll. (83) Penny Cyc. Article "Mexico," p. 163. 
(84) Bancroft's "Native Races." (85) Emory, p, 83. (86) Prince's N. Mex. 24. 
(87) Prince's N. M. 24-6. (88) The Shan Hai King, Book 11, section 111. 14th 
mountain. (89) Emory. 64. (90) Shan Hai King, p. 83. (91) Mr Spears in N. 
Y Sun. Sept. 3. 1893. (92) Amer. Antiquarian, May, 1892. (93) N. Y. World. 
Oct. 1887. (94) N. Y. Recorder, Feb. 19, 1893. 



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